Adoption

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

--Romans 8:15-17--

Adoption is one of the most beautiful pictures of God's grace on this earth, because as Gentile believers we are truly adopted into God's family. I love the verse above. We are God's precious children. Christ is our big brother, and someday we will be heirs with him in heaven. Although I was not originally a part of God's family, he chose to make me his very own. He chose to graft me into the best family tree there is. The family tree of GOD. And Jesus is my big brother. I love that. I've never had an older sibling. I am the oldest in my family, and while I like being the oldest, I also have always wondered what it would be like to have a big brother to love me and protect me, the way big brothers are prone to do. But Romans 8:29 says that Jesus is the "firstborn among many brothers." But I'm pretty sure he has little sisters too.

Micah and I want to adopt children someday. I mean, nothing is set in stone. Maybe we'll have our own kids. Maybe we'll adopt some or all of our children. Maybe we won't have kids. Only the Lord knows what tomorrow will bring. But, trusting that the Lord is sovereign, Micah and I are interested in adopting in the future. There is no better way to show Christ to a child then to bring him or her into your own family, because that is excactly what God has done for us.

Follow Me?

Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1 "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." Whoa, Paul. Really? What a huge claim, right? But Paul is not arrogant. He is confident in who He is in Christ, who Christ has called him to be, and reassurred by the Holy Spirit that He is living a life obedient to God. He doesn't claim to be perfect. He admits that he used to "violently" persecute the church of God (Galatians 1:13). He says he still struggles against sin often ("I do the very thing I hate" - Romans 7:15), yet he knows and loves the Lord so much much that he can confidently tell others to follow the example of his life.

And this is not the only time he commands the church to follow him. Paul also tells the Phillipians to "join in imitating me" (3:17), he reminds that Timothy has "followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith" (I Timothy 3:10), and he tells the Thessalonian church it "ought to imitate us" (us being Paul and his fellow missionaries - II Thess. 3:7-9). And Paul is not the only one to promote this idea of mimicry. The unknown author of Hebrews says "Remember your leaders...and imitate their faith" (13:7) and Peter tells church leaders to "shepherd the flock of God...being examples to the flock" (5:2-3).

Clearly, these claims to "follow me" are a specific circumstance. These are apostles telling other church leaders to follow their example. Secondly, they are telling church leaders to set an example for their own congregations. I am not going to stand up on Sunday and tell my church to follow me. I am not a church leader. I am a woman who should not be leading men in the church. But does this still apply to me in a sense? I mean I UTTERLY fail all the time. I hope this blog has been transparent about that. I am impatient, selfish, prideful. I even try to paint myself in a good light, instead of just being open about how sinful and weak I am. But I also love God, and I know the Holy Spirit is at work in my life, and I know that by God's grace alone (and my NO effort of my own) I have become a much more disciplined and obedient person in recent years. Again praise be to God, this has nothing to with me. But should I take seriously that people will and even should follow me? Should other women, especially those slightly younger than me, high school and college students, former students (now friends) from Young Life and church ministry follow me? That seems weird, because I feel so unworthy to be followed most of the time. But one of the ways that we are the body of Christ on this earth is by setting an example of Him for other believers, especially younger believers who have few or no good examples in their life. If I am being obedient to Christ, then my life should be worthy of being followed. We are privileged to get to be an example of Christ on this earth, not only in the way we love and serve those who do not know Him, but in the way we show other believers how to be more LIKE him.

Not everyone should follow me. I think men should find a Godly male example to follow. Most women should NOT follow me. There are so many older, wiser, meeker, stronger women that I imitate because they show me Christ. But for those girls that are slightly younger, for those girls or young women whom I have mentored or discipled in the past... follow me. I love Jesus more and more each day, and I want you to love him and be changed by him and live for him. I don't ever want you to follow me for me. That would be dismal. I want you to follow me only because I follow Christ and He is so worth following.

Thanksgiving

I stumbled across a verse today in I Corinthians that is perfect to reflect on as we head into Thanksgiving week (and always). Paul writes his first letter to the Corinthians to address a LOT of sin going on in their chuch, and most, if not all, of that sin is caused by the Corinthian Christians' blatant pride and arrogance. And, yes, they were Christians, despite their immature behavior. Paul asks them why they would act like this when they have already been "washed...in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 6:11). Members of the church are getting into lawsuits with each other because of their selfishness and sin (I Cor. 6). Paul has to remind them that "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (I Cor. 8:1), because the Corinthians have "knowledge" to justify all of their sin.

But Paul asks them, "What do you have that you did not receive?" (I Cor. 47). Answer his rhetorical question for yourself. What do I have that I have not received? Nothing. Paul then asks, "If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" God has given us EVERYTHING we have. Not only our possessions (the sofa on which I sit, the computer on which I type, the coffee I just drank, the bed I slept in for eight hours last night), but our talents, gifts, experiences, relationships, even the very breath we breathe each second of the day. God has given me EVERYTHING in my life, both tangible and intangible. Some these gifts in my own life that come to mind right now are the legs I use to run as I train for a half-marathon in January (not to mention the money to register for a half-marathon), the opportunity to go to grad school (for free!), the mind I use as I read for class, my ability to write, the gift of the new chuch we found and love in Scottsdale, the best friends in the whole world who faithfully stay in touch with me despite living in Seattle, Texas, and Africa, and my sweet husband and our quaint little apartment. These few things are simply an ounce, a mere drop, in the overflowing bucket of God's goodness in my life.

But why, like the Corinthians, do I "boast" as if I did not receive these gifts from God? Sure, I don't usually come right out and boast as most would think of boasting, but my attitude toward these things and my behavior during the day is that of boasting. I take for granted so many of God's gifts in my life. I act as if I deserve my home, my food, my husband, my schooling, my job, etc. Instead of having a constant attitude of thanksgiving for everything God has given me, I all too often act with an attitude of entitlement. If I work too much, too little, if my schooling keeps me too busy, if Micah does something that irritates me, I think I have the right to be upset or resentful or to complain about these things. I also have the audicity to judge others, to critique their work or their lifestyle, and deem myself superior to them, even if it's just in the most hidden places of my mind and heart. This, my friends, is boasting. I boast with my thoughts, actions, and attitudes every single day, when EVERYTHING I have, including life itself, is a gift from God.

And so I will leave you with the words of the ESV Study Bible editors:
"What do you have that you did not receive? If Christians repeatedly ask this of themselves, it will produce deep humility and thanksgiving."

I urge you to ask yourself  this question daily, not just at Thanksgiving, but the whole year through. I plan to do the same. Hopefully, we can become more humble, thankful receivers of God's grace, and paint a more beautiful picture of the Giver during our short time on earth.

Wanting to be in a Gospel Choir right about now... can you feel the Holy Spirit in this place?

Gosh, the book of Acts is just so good. I fall more in love with it everytime I read it, which hopefully means I fall more in love with Jesus everytime I read it, because the book is all about HIM. Jesus left earth to return to the Father with this message: "...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8) and then Jesus made His command of evangelism possible by sending the Holy Spirit. Seriously, within weeks the Holy Spirit arrives at Pentecost and the believers (about 120 of them at the time) begin preaching the Gospel all around Jerusalem. Soon their numbers total 3,000 and then 5,000 believers. Peter, John and others are persecuted by the same jealous Jewish rulers who killed Jesus, and yet they continue preaching boldly. When they are whipped for sharing the Gospel, they rejoice that "they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41). Jerusalem, check.

Then Stephen is stoned to death for proclaiming the Gospel and many of these new Christians flee Jerusalem for safety, since the church is being persecuted so badly in the city. Where do they flee to? All of Judea and Samaria, of course, and they share the Gospel there. Judea and Samaria, check.

During this time, Saul, who at first is one of the leaders instigating this persecution against the Christians, encounters Christ while on his way to arrest Christians in another city (yes, Jesus is in heaven at this time, but he appears to Saul because He has big plans for Saul's role in the spreading of the Gospel). Quick change of plans. Saul, who eventually is called Paul, converts to Christianity and become the most productive missionary in all of history. Over the course of three long missionary journeys, he is able to carry the Gospel all over the Roman Empire, eventually winding up in Rome itself. During the time period, the Roman Empire covered all of what we now consider Europe and the Middle East and even parts of Northern Africa. Ends of the earth, check.

But I only recap all of this, because I never ceased to be amazed at God's plan to share his Word with all the earth and the way He made it possible through mere men in such a relatively short amount of time. But the truth of it is, it really didn't matter who the men were or where they lived or what they said...they were able to share the Gospel so boldly and effectively because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the one causing the apostles to speak in other languages (Acts 2), causing people to be healed simply by standing in Peter's shadow (Acts 5), and creating encounters that lead to repentance and baptism, such as Phillip and the Eunuch (Acts 8).

Evangelism can be tough. People's hearts are hardened. There is so much blindness, ignorance, pride, and selfishness out there, including my own. I am a Christian, and yet I am often blind to who needs the Gospel, ignorant of how to share God's word, prideful and embarrassed to talk about God if it might be awkward or unsuccessful, and selfish because I allow so many other things to fill my time when I could be talking about Christ with people who do not know Him. And yet Christ sent the Holy Spirit to overcome all that. The Holy Spirit sees the hearts of all and knows who will be receptive to the Gospel. The Spirit gives us the words to say. The Spirit can work in spite of our sinfulness and selfishness. He can create encounters, soften hearts, open mouths and ears to the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Sure, it might not happen the same way it did for the apostles. I might not end up speaking fluently in another language I do not know in order to share Christ, but then again, ANYTHING is possible. The book of Acts gets me excited and prayerful about God's heart for the world and the work of His Spirit on this earth. Who does He want me to talk to today? Who does He want you to to talk to?

Reflection #5 - Resurrection!

I just finished the Gospels today. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Done. I am so excited to begin Acts tomorrow. The stories of the early church and God's amazing movement in building the Christian faith and the work of the Holy Spirit as the Gospel spreads "to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47) is one of my favorite parts of the whole Bible. But more about that later.

Yesterday I read about Christ's crucifixion and today about his empty tomb. How amazing is it that our God overcame death? I mean, I guess He wouldn't be our God if he hadn't - He would be like all the other powerless, dead gods that people worship all over the world. But our God is real. He is active. He is living. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven advocating on our behalf. He has conquered death and He is returning to earth again someday, not as the meek, humble Savior like the first time, but as powerful King and conqueror. Amazing. I just wanted to reflect for a minute on how much I love Jesus. He died for me. He was like a sheep silent before its shearers when He was being accused and convicted of crimes He had never committed. He lived the perfect, righteous life on this earth, and then died the death that I deserved. He suffered all of God's wrath against every sin ever committed in the history of the earth, and then he "gave up his Spirit" (John 19:30). He willingly tasted death, so that I might know Him and live with Him eternally. Then three days later, he arose from the grave because death could not hold him. He walked again on this earth in his glorified body and then ascended to be with the Father in heaven once again, with the promise that He would return again one day, and that through His Holy Spirit, He will be with us always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). That's my God. Is that your God too?