“Submission and trust are not just thrown in as two arbitrary qualities of the Bible’s good girls. The two go hand in hand. A true heart attitude of peaceful submission — free from worry, anxiety, or bitterness — is only possible when we find a deep place of trust in God. Sarah learned trust through difficult situations as she trusted God, obeyed in spite of her husband’s fallibility, and reaped reward.”
Post Category → scripture
zeal: it’s for every season
(Thinking about zeal, passion, lukewarm and comfortable, living a life poured out, and an exhortation from Bob Dale several years ago:)
We were exhorted yesterday, reminded of things we ought not forget, and yet somehow always do. I was listening, really listening, and I want to rise to the challenge to love Jesus according to His great example and not according to the world’s sensibility.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. —rom 12.11 (ESV)
Zeal has nothing to do with physical age, spiritual age, season or calling. God doesn’t expect us to outgrow zeal along with mountain dew and hilary duff. He doesn’t think it’s another name for the bubble of bliss in which the newly saved walk. There’s no renouncement of it written into wedding vows, because it’s supposed to carry over from single to already-taken. And it’s not in the job description for youth pastors only, along with the ability to look way-cool.
It’s for all of us, all the time, until Jesus takes us home. It’s not a matter of style; it’s a matter of whether or not we’re spewn with great disgust from the mouth of God. The young can be filled with zeal, because it doesn’t require great wisdom and experience, but simply a revelation of God’s love. The old and arthritic can be consumed by it, because it’s not about dancing to the fast songs, but about a life that is poured out selflessly.
It’s about priorities, about fire in the bones, about being so wrapped up in the Second Coming that we sort of forget about prestigious college degrees, Pottery Barn couches, and making sure our kids don’t miss a season of soccer.
It’s about letting the embers of love be stirred so that we start to live like strangers and aliens, more like ambassadors; not so much for Now, more for Already and Not Yet.
It’s about knowing that
…it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach– if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard… —col 1
(a repost from the archives.)
sarah: a holy woman
a. carmichael: grey days
When I was 16, I spent two months in India. It was my first overseas trip, my first independent travel, and my first length of time away from home. A special friend gifted me with this small book before I left — a compilation of letters written by one of our heroes, missionary to India Amy Carmichael. (Do you read this blog, Erin? If you do: this book is the most well-worn on my bookshelf, save for my first Bible. It has been read over and over and over. Thank you.) May I recommend it to you? Small little snippets — deeply inspiring, convicting, and full of love for the Savior.
I remember the first time I read a particular page from this book for real. I was sitting in the library at school. The windows behind me let in the dull gray light of a wet, dreary day. I was taking a break from the monotony of study on a totally routine day. This booklet had made its way, again, to my devotional rotation, and so I pulled it out, ready to read anything that had nothing to do with polytonality.
I read, and the words burned in my heart:
All sorts of days come and go — they go, that’s the best of them. Don’t let the dull days pass without giving you what only dullness ever can give. It isn’t the days of high tension that try us most, and so give us most; it’s the days that seem all grey and dull. They test the quality of the gold.
Of all the truths I stumbled upon in my singleness, perhaps this one has helped me most on the path of motherhood. Learning to value gray days. Realizing they do happen. And realizing that the question asked of me is, Will I be found faithful? Even on the days that could easily be discounted, wasted, seen as not really counting — will I serve 100%? There is the ability, when you’re single (or at least childless) to get a “gray” moment and immediately squirm your way out of it — go somewhere, do something, you know. Add some spark. Live from high to high, drama to drama, event to event. I know. Hey, it’s more fun. But learning to just do my best and plod on when it was an active choice was phenomenal training for this role in which I now find myself.
Certainly there are plenty of dull moments, if not entire days, of dullness in this current season. I’m not trying to be negative; there simply are. Sometimes I think I must have done something wrong to have landed such a dreary day, but no, not always. Sometimes they’re there because there is gold that needs testing: my faithfulness and steadfastness of heart.
Most of all, it’s reassuring to know that God can be found, even on days when there’s no prayer meeting scheduled, no cell group meeting at your house, no emergency that requires ten hours of speaking in tongues. He’s there, watching for my response in those moments that don’t seem to matter. Smiling when I choose diligent service. And encouraging my heart with His songs of delight.
So whatever season you’re in, don’t discount the gray days. Sometimes they’re the best ones.
i have no need.
Thou shalt not covet
I’ve been thinking on these words the last few months, tucking them into the back pocket of my mind to be pulled out and reread, re-pondered, re-examined. I finger them, roll them around, get used to the feel of them. Memorize their impression on my heart.
What does this mean? How on earth did this command make it into the Top Ten? Certainly it must deserve more notice than the passing glance and obligatory recitation I’ve given it.
Be content
“For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am….”
This follows close on the heels:
Content.
Satisfied.
Certainly these are contrary to coveting.
Am I? Content? Am I purposing to learn the art of satisfaction?
Boundaries
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places…
To know that God, who set the galaxies in order, has ordered my life. These are the boundaries. Do I embrace them, live here fully, find contentment? Or do I push, prod, peer at the green on the other side?
Covet.
And I wonder soberly, as I finger that word once more: Is this, the last warning of the commandments, a thing capable of completely derailing one from the will of God, from serving His purposes? Where does coveting end? (It doesn’t.)
Do I take this as seriously as my Heavenly Father, who wants His best for me?
“My food is to do the will of He who sent Me.”
There is no coveting in a heart that can say such a thing.
Lord, purify my heart’s desire. Be my desire.
satisfied with abundance
Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Your judgments are like a great deep
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house;
And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light. —psalm 36