Category: Spiritual Walk

Of Mice and Men

11/08/2013Sharing the Gospel, Spiritual Walk, , 8 Comments

Years ago, we lived in Missouri and our neighbor, Trudy, had a cat that liked to regularly deposit a dead mouse at her back door. Typically Trudy tossed the mouse in the trash before anyone else saw it, but one morning I stopped by early, and there it was! Yuck!

Not being a cat-person, and revealing my ignorance of cat behavior, I asked Trudy what that was all about and Trudy explained, “She thinks she’s giving me a present. It’s what cats do.”

Right! Just what every woman wants: a dead, somewhat bloody, mangled mouse dropped on the doorstep first thing in the morning. Clearly the cat didn’t understand Trudy. And, I didn’t understand the cat.

But think about it, that cat worked hard for that mouse. This was a house cat for the most part, so to get to the field, she had to get out of the house. Then she had to cross a storm run-off ditch to get to the field. Then, she had to find the mouse in a very large field. And, she had to catch him. Her gift shopping had to be done quickly. Even with all the hard work and effort, her gift went straight to the trash.

I think that is exactly how God sees our efforts to please him if we are not saved.  No matter how hard we work to please God, no matter how many gifts of generosity, service, philanthropy, and kindness to others we do, each one is like laying a dead mouse at God’s feet and saying, “Here’s another present!”

It’s just all dead mice.

God is not impressed with any work that we do to earn his favor, or our salvation. He doesn’t find it pleasing. He tells us this in Romans 8:8 “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

To please God, we must belong to God. We must have faith in the God who saves and in the instrument of that salvation: God’s one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Sometimes I think we get the cart before the horse, and we try to show God that we are worthy of salvation, so we bring him gifts… dead mice. Instead, we need to come to him for salvation, believe what He says, and receive the salvation that he offers.

Then, we do have to get to work! He has ordained works for us to do, works that prove our faith, not earn our faith. It must be in that order. When we work for God because of our faith, he not only finds our gifts acceptable, but he rewards them.

One day, we will have the privilege of giving gifts to Jesus. We will not give him dead mice; we will lay our crowns at his feet.

Doors, Drawers and Disrespect

11/05/2013Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , , 18 Comments

kitchen 045a

There are 37 cabinet doors, and 24 drawers in my kitchen. You need to know this.

You see, a while back as I was taking my vitamins Brian walked into the kitchen, closed the cabinet door where we keep the vitamins and said, “You always leave the cabinet doors open.” Then he walked out.

What?!?! Are you kidding me?! I never leave the cabinet doors open! And I was going to close this one as soon as I swallowed that vitamin!! How could he say that?

Well, on that Sunday morning things changed! I opened every door and drawer as far as possible, then I walked out of the house, got in the car with Brian and left to go to church. Angry.

On the way to church, I realized it was the first Sunday of the month. We would be celebrating communion. And I was angry. Almost immediately, the Lord brought to mind 1 Corinthians 11:27-28 “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.”

Drat. My heart was not clean. It was full of anger. I prayed, silently, “Lord, I’m sorry I got angry.”

There, now my heart was right. I confessed my anger. I was ‘good to go’. I could participate in the Lord’s Supper with a clean heart. Wrong. In my heart I knew I needed to apologize to Brian.

Instead, I argued with God, “Lord, he said something that made me mad. I shouldn’t have to apologize to him for getting angry. Besides, he doesn’t even know I’m angry!”

The Lord didn’t buy my defense. Maybe my initial ‘prayer of confession’ wasn’t quite genuine. Or maybe if I didn’t ‘come clean’ with Brian, I would secretly nurse the anger, and let a root of bitterness get started.

So, I apologized to Brian, who had no idea what I was talking about, and he said everything was OK.

Whew! Now, all was good, I could take communion with a clean conscience.

We walked into church, we sang, I was worshiping my Precious God, and then he brought to mind Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

What??? Did I have to tell Brian about the doors and drawers? Nope. No way. Not gonna happen. Besides, I thought, he was wrong! I don’t leave the doors open. I always close them. And, it’s not a sin to leave them open, even if I did… which I did that morning.

The pastor prayed and passed the elements. My heart was not clean. I had deliberately opened those drawers and doors just so that Brian would be angry when he got home and saw them.

I jotted on the bulletin, “I opened every cabinet door and drawer in the kitchen and left them open. I’m sorry,” and handed it to Brian. Did he just stifle a laugh????

When the bread and cup were handed to me I received both, and thanked my precious Savior for shedding his blood on the cross so that my sins were forgiven. All of them. Anger. Self-righteousness. Disrespecting Brian. Disrespecting the Lord. Bitterness. You name it.

As soon as we got home, I closed every drawer and door in the kitchen before Brian saw them… because, after all, I never leave them open!

At a Texas Winery

10/29/2013Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , , 8 Comments

My son and daughter-in-law took me to lunch at a winery outside of Austin, Texas for my birthday.  As we were waiting for our reservation, we wandered up and down the rows of harvested vines, enjoying the sunshine, and marveling at God’s handiwork. We also marveled at whatever it was that was coiled around the support wires.

I have to confess, it took us a few minutes to figure out what we were looking at. Coming from Illinois, we’re familiar with barbed wire, but this wasn’t barbed and it wasn’t wire. It was coiled and it was hard, woody even. We finally realized it was the hardened leftover tendrils that had connected the grapevine to the support wires.

 These tendrils were really interesting. Some of the tendrils were multiple coils a couple of inches long, and some were just one or two coils. The tendrils were so hard you couldn’t pull them off the wire, but clearly, they were at one time a part of the vine.

When the tendril was attached to the vine it was flexible, strong, and green. It had use, purpose and worth: it attached itself to the wire supports, fence posts, or whatever else was around, pulled the branches toward the sun, and lifted them up so that the grapes could hang down. It was a necessary part of the grape vine.

However, once the harvest was complete, the tendrils were left behind, separated from the branches and from the vine; useless, worthless and purposeless.

As Christians, attached to Christ, we have use, worth and purpose, but apart from Christ, we can do nothing.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We think we can do things apart from Christ. We have ability, education, great insights, personality, creativity, and generosity. We understand things and teach others, we might even talk to people about Jesus; but our work has no eternal value.

When it is tried by fire, it will burn up, and we will stand before Christ as one escaping the flames with only the ashes of our life’s work to place at his feet.

However, if we remain in Christ, and he in us – not next to him, not drawing our strength from him – but allowing him to live out his life through us, we will continue to bear spiritual fruit that will last for all eternity. Apart from him, we become a hardened, useless, purposeless, worthless piece of dry tendril reminding ourselves of who we used to be, and what we used to do.

Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

The tendrils were interesting, but that is all. Apart from Christ, would we even be that?

A Tree-Climbing Tree

10/25/2013Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, 4 Comments

MarciaNiece2013

This tree is in the side yard of my son and daughter-in-law’s house in Texas and I am fascinated by it. It’s a ‘live oak’. Live oaks are rightly named because they live a long time. I’m not sure how old this one is, but it is huge!

I wonder over the past hundreds of years how many children have played on this tree. Did pioneers sit under its shade? Did it provide shelter from rain? Will it one day be a piece of furniture?

And, just in case you’re wondering, that’s not Zacchaeus in the tree, it is my niece. Zac climbed a sycamore tree. Zacchaeus was a wealthy, hated, tax collector who happened to also be short.  Zac (I think I can call him “Zac”, we’ll be friends in heaven!) didn’t know at the time that God had big plans for him; he just knew that this new superstar, Jesus, whom everyone was talking about was coming his way.

So this tax collector, this wealthy, hated, small man, ran like a child to get to the head of the line and climbed a tree just to see Jesus. He was working hard, in his own effort to just get a glimpse of Jesus. He didn’t ask for help. He didn’t climb on anyone’s shoulders. He just did what he thought he needed to do.

But, he didn’t need to work so hard, the One he sought was seeking him. When Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was, Jesus look up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5) Jesus didn’t climb the tree; he called Zac to come to him. And Zac came down and welcomed him gladly!

Then, Jesus went home with Zacchaeus, which angered a lot of people! How could Jesus hang out with such a sinner? But this wealthy sinner had become a saved soul who was willing to give away everything for Jesus. Zac had found the greatest treasure; salvation in Jesus.

Philippians 3:8 “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”

Zacchaeus was a little man who climbed a tree. To what lengths are you willing to go to see Jesus? Are you willing to run in public? Climb a tree? Or, in other words, make a fool of yourself?

If Jesus were to come to your house today, is there anything that you’d be embarrassed for him to see?

Is there anything that you are not willingly to give up to know Christ more? What if giving it up meant someone else would come to know Christ as the Savior.

When Jesus calls, will you come down from your perch? Out of your hiding place? Are you willing to step into a low position and serve others? Or are you afraid? Do you prefer looking at him from up in a tree?

Compelled to Share

10/18/2013Sharing the Gospel, Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , 3 Comments

Hello. My name is Marcia. I’m a mall-walker. I’m not alone. There are many of us; we arrive before the stores open and we barrel briskly down the mostly empty hallways for exercise. The mall is great for walking, there’s security, heat in winter, AC in summer, it never rains, you don’t have to jump out of the way of a bicycle, and you’re never too far from a bathroom.

A few months ago my friend, who’s also a mall-walker, and I were speeding along when a young woman came into view heading straight toward us pushing a custodial cart. She made eye contact and with a huge smile on her face, as if she knew us, she headed in our direction. The second she was close enough to speak, she said, “I just got promoted! I’ll never have to push this cart again!”

We clapped! We hugged her! We congratulated her! We had no idea who she was! After a minute we resumed our walk; smiling and filled with joy. What a moment. She had great news to share and it didn’t matter who she shared it with. It was as if she was compelled by some inner force to share. We were privileged to rejoice with her.

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” When it came to the gospel, Paul was like this young woman, he had to share. He had to preach. He was compelled by God’s Holy Spirit to share what God had put in his heart and mind.

Do you remember what it was like to feel that way about Jesus?  Can you recall when your salvation was new and your joy was overflowing and you just had to tell everyone about this great new adventure you were on with God?

What happened?  Did the walk with God grow old?  Did it prove to be more difficult than you thought?  Did other people’s reaction drain the joy out of your testimony? Did church get boring? Did Bible study fall by the wayside?

King David prays in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.” Is that your prayer? Should it be?

Perhaps we’ve lost our joy because we misunderstood our responsibility. We are not to save others, but to teach them God’s ways. We learn God’s ways by studying his word and applying it. We teach others when we tell them what God has done in our own lives.

That’s what the young woman did. She inadvertently shared with us what God had just done in her life! It gave us all joy. What has God done in your life? Who needs to hear it?