It's Not Fair!

God is fair. God is just. God is good.  I really truly believe this with all my heart.  But I’ve been known to ask, why do you get more than me?  Or why do I get more than you?  I’m not just talking about possessions or money.  I’m talking about talent, health, opportunities, strength, personality, ability to connect with others, etc.

Why does one get perfect health while I get a rare liver disease?  Why am I born an introvert with a heart that wants to be an extrovert? Why do I get to be born in a Christian culture while another is born into in Islamic culture in Afghanistan? Why do I get to be a mother, but another must struggle with infertility?  Why do I get a childhood of relative ease while another struggles growing up jumping from one foster home to another? 

God isn’t giving away the answers quite yet.  He doesn’t have to, even if it seems unfair.  But He has a reason.  Just read the parable of the talents, where the master gives varying responsibilities to each of the servants according to their abilities.  God is not obligated to treat us all equally or give us all the same things.

So some have more than me while I have more than others.  That’s how life is – a sort of pecking order – some above, some the same, some beneath.  This reality leaves us with three choices:

1.  We can use what we have or don’t have as an excuse for why we do or don’t do something.
2. We can waste away our lives playing the comparison game, complaining about the some that others have that we didn’t get.
3. We can gratefully accept what we have been given and do everything we can with it – give it all we’ve got.

 So rather than asking “Why don’t I have that?” or “Why didn’t got make me more like that?” or “why did that happen to me?”, I resolve to ask more often “what” to do with what I it, instead.

Holding the Truth High without Putting People Down - Book Review

Are we giving as much energy to obeying and being transformed by God’s Word personally as we are to criticizing its detractors? This is Joshua Harris’s test question for determining whether we are pursuing humble orthodoxy, which he explains in his new book Humble Orthodoxy: Holding the Truth High without Putting People Down.

I think it’s embarrassing when I hear Christians bludgeoning each other with their pet doctrines or pounding others over the head in judgment.  Humble orthodoxy is committing ourselves to holding on to truth and never giving up on showing love to others.  It doesn’t mean being hesitant where God has been plain and clear.  It means standing for truth with a tear in our eye.  And it means living it – embodying the truth that you know and teach.

Joshua Harris points out that there is a difference between having a critical mind that carefully evaluates and having a critical spirit that loves to tear down and belittle.  Humble orthodoxy squelches pride as it holds out the truth while loving his neighbor and his enemy.

Maybe you believe that hell is a real place and your Christ-following friend does not.  Before trying to spout out all of the supporting Scripture, think – do you live like you believe it?  Are you trying to “save” as many people from hell as you can because you know how horrifying it is?  Maybe your friend believes in a health-wealth gospel, and you don’t.  Are you living a life of accumulating things and feel like God is blessing you because you are so good?

This is a short book of 60 pages that offers much food for thought and discussion.  The size and depth of this book along with the discussion guide in the back would make it a great one-month study for a small group, for partnering with a friend, or even just to ponder alone.  I highly recommend this short read to any Christ follower who is passionate about what they believe.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Waterbook Multnomah Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World - Book Review

Like many other couples, my husband and I arranged for the reading of 1 Corinthians 13, “the Love Chapter”, at our wedding.  My best friend printed 1 Corinthians 13 on elegant paper and framed it for me to put on my wall, replacing the pronouns with my name and with my husband’s name as the object of my love.  But how often have I ever considered that chapter in the context of God’s instructions on what it means to love your neighbor as yourself?  Uh…never?? You mean I should keep no record of wrongs not only with my husband but also my boss and my crazy next-door neighbor?? I was awakened to this blind spot in my life by Ajith Fernando in his book Reclaiming Love: Radical Relationships in a Complex World.

The greatest love comes at the greatest cost.  Ajith Fernando would know.  He grew up and ministered in Sri Lanka, and has not only studied 1 Corinthians 13 in depth, but has counseled with it, discipled with it, and lived it for at least 50 years.  In 19 chapters, he dissects the verses in 1 Corinthians 13 touching on topics of patience, kindness, envy, honor, boasting, arrogance, sensitivity, anger, truth, bitterness, forgiveness, judgment, perseverance, and grace.  He holds the reader captive with illustrations and practical explanations and remains faithful to the whole counsel of Scripture. 

The journey from the head to the heart can be long and complex, so we must repeatedly open ourselves up to the healing work of the Holy Spirit.  Ajith Fernando shows how we must learn to find a way to handle the weaknesses of others and then get on with the business of loving and enjoying them.  He reminds us that attempts to show kindness to others do not render us immune from misunderstanding and pain, yet he provides a list of things we can practice to exercise caution. 

Ajith Fernando says there is great value in a life devoted to love, even though it is costly.  Those who live in love experience joy, and joy, like love, comes from God and not from within a person.  We may be inconvenience or we must act against our natural instincts to follow a loving path.  Love might not be reciprocated, but the suffering of rejection deepens our love relationship with Christ.  He tells us why it’s worth it.

This book is not fluffy and frivolous, nor is it too academic or difficult.  Ajith Fernando strikes a perfect balance in between, and he inspires while being thought-provoking.  But Zondervan sure could have found a larger font that would have been easier on these over-40 eyes!  I would recommend this book for every Christian who wants to know what it really means to love one another and what that looks like, and I would recommend a magnifying glass or special reading glasses for those who have difficulty reading tiny print.

 

Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Zondervan Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

When I Don't Feel Like Doing What God Wants Me to Do

We often hear that we should follow our passion and our calling, use our spiritual gifts.  This is true, but sometimes God calls us to do something, and we may not feel very passionate about it, or gifted enough, yet we know it is what He wants us to do.  We get excited to follow Him anywhere, but when the rubber must meet the road, our flesh screeches us to a halt.

Jesus was in turmoil and anguish when he and his three disciples approached the Garden of Gethsemene.  He wandered a short distance from them and dropped to the ground, overwhelmed with distress.  Deep distress.  Face down physically in the garden but emotionally before the throne of His Father, seeking His face, he expressed his deepest emotions.  He lived his whole life in submission to His Father’s will.  Everything he did, every act of service, was an act of submission.  But this was too hard. 

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:39.

Jesus asked if there was some other way.  He knew His Father could do anything, so he asked that the cup of suffering be taken away.  He still wanted the Father’s will, but perhaps there some alternative to fulfilling His Father’s redemptive plan?  As he converses with the Father, he bravely accepts the reality that there is not, but that the Father would give him the supernatural strength He needed to follow through.  At the end, he wakes his sleeping disciples who seem oblivious to the significance of the moment, and says “Rise, let us go.”  The time had come, and he was ready to face it head on.  He was ready to fulfill what he was called to do, whatever the cost. 

Our spirit may be eager to follow Jesus, whatever the cost, excited to do His will, whatever it is, but when it gets right down to it, when that moment comes, we hesitate.  Maybe we don’t feel emotionally prepared to handle it, or we feel tired, or we are afraid we won’t do it right, or it’s just completely inconvenient.  Maybe it doesn’t jive with what we feel like doing. 

In the moment, we have a choice.  When we know God wants us to do it, but our feelings or emotions are in conflict, we must drop to the floor on our face and ask God for the strength, to submit our flesh to His will.  And if even then our feelings don’t match up, maybe God just wants us to move forward in obedience, in spite of our feelings.  While our feelings affect our actions, it is also true that our actions affect how we feel, and once we act in obedience, then God will bless with the alignment of our emotions.  

A Heart for the Community - Book Review

A Heart for the Community: New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry, is a selection of writings addressing the issues of church planting – issues that used to be urban in nature but have now migrated into the suburbs.  I selected this book to read because I was involved in a church plant in the southwestern suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas that did not appear to ‘succeed’ very well, and I was intrigued as to how the methods compared to my current Kansan church’s efforts to connect with less materially privileged areas of the city.    

John Fuder and Noel Castellanos, editors, collected writings for this textbook on practical community development from the people down in the trenches who have seen the problems, particularly with racial, cultural, and economic barriers that inhibit effective ministry .  Along with the issues that are raised, strategies to attack these problems to break down barriers offer hope in how to address the needs of our neighbors.  The community is viewed in a holistic manner in addressing needs. 

The book is divided into four parts.   The first part revolves around critical issues of church planting, such as the importance of exegeting the community and the benefits of collaborating with other community groups.  The second part presents various church-planting models to reach different ethnic groups and provides hospitality methods.  The third part discusses ministering to suburban needs – diversity and unity, multi-ethnic communities, and poverty and luxury side by side.  The fourth part is titled ‘parachurch ministries’ with outreach models for specific types of people.  Each chapter concludes with reflective questions and recommended reading.  How-to guidance and lessons learned are sprinkled throughout the book.

This selection of writings is a valuable resource for church planters, missionaries, and other people involved as leaders in reaching out to communities.  While it is academic in nature, it is practical and does not read like a textbook.  I highly recommend this book for those who want to prepare to minister effectively in their communities.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Moody Press in exchange for my honest review.

Fear Versus Faith

Fear is one of those emotions that sneaks up on us. We don’t choose to feel it; it comes naturally.  However, we CAN choose NOT to fear.  That's why there are so many passages in the Bible that command us to not be afraid.  God wants us to have faith in Him.  This faith overcomes fear.

Like the disciples on the boat with Jesus during the storm.  Have you ever wondered what would’ve happened if the disciples had not woken up Jesus?  Would the boat have keeled over? Could some of them been washed overboard?  Was Jesus just sleeping, subconsciously waiting for them to wake Him and ask for help?  Maybe the biggest problem was that they stayed afraid after calling out to Him. 

Choose faith – but what is faith?  When my husband was having a heart attack in the ER, I could have succumbed to fear.  In that moment, the battle of emotions raged beneath the surface of my calm exterior.  Whether I consciously realized it or not, I could choose - choose to fear life without my husband, or choose faith in God and His goodness. 

But what does that kind of faith in God mean? It doesn’t mean the kind of faith that declares God was going to heal him, the kind of faith where all I had to do was name it and claim it.  It was the kind of faith that trusts Him to carry me through, whatever the outcome, knowing that no matter what happened none of it took Him by surprise. It was faith in His goodness even if it wasn’t obvious in the moment of my circumstances.

Maybe it’s easy to say since God has given me more time with Him.  When the day comes that we must part from each other on this earth, I pray God will give the strength, grace, and endurance to finish the race with faith in God’s goodness not only intact but firmly believed with every fiber of my being.

Where there is faith, there is no room for fear.

Pray without Ceasing

On the elliptical machine, in the car driving down the road, in the middle of a conversation with her son—these are the places where my friend Laura ‘hears’ God speak to her.  In the morning, with coffee mug in one hand and Bible in the other – this is where I expect God to speak to me. 

Last Saturday morning, I was thinking about how I know God speaks to me through His Word, but I wanted to ‘hear’ Him speaking regularly in the midst of my work and in the mundane activities too, like Laura.  Perhaps this is what it means to pray without ceasing - to be consciously aware of God’s active present, whether driving or waiting, and thinking His thoughts according to what we know of Him, then just listen and observe.     

That afternoon while doing yard work alongside my husband, he had a heart attack.  I don't remember verbalizing words to God but I know I leaned on Him to guide my decisions.  As I bowed my head while the hospital staff worked on him furiously, God was near. While I was unable to cry out to Him verbally, He entered into an exchange of wordless conversation, a trading of emotions.  I handed Him my fear. He filled me with peace and strength.

My friend Kirsti's mother slipped on into heaven last week.  Unable to open the Word of God, listen to music, or even verbalize a prayer at times, she grieves with Him in groans.  And He hears her.  He holds her up and helps her to keep taking the next step.  A conversation with God does not have to use words.

Two ears, one tongue.  Pray without ceasing - listening twice as much as speaking - with or without words...

Revealing Jesus: A 365-Day Devotional - Book Review

Darlene Zschech, renowned worship leader, song writer, and speaker, pours out her heart of praise in the book Revealing Jesus: a 365-Day Devotional.  Based on her personal prayer journal and rooted in her longing for Jesus to be revealed in her life, she engages the reader to draw closer to God and know Him more.  Styled in the typical traditional format of opening with a Scripture passage and closing with a short prayer for each day of the year, she begins each month centered on a theme and introduced with the lyrics of a hymn. 

In the easy-to-read and concise one-page daily reading, she reminds of God’s love and care and points to His Holy Spirit for our strength and joy. She reminds us of the various facets of His character as revealed in His names in the Bible.  While drawing on many characters throughout the Bible as relatable examples, she shows how God is also calling us to Himself, calling us to a bold and gutsy faith that stands and reflects Christ wherever we find ourselves.  Through themes for reflection and meditation, she inspires us to live knowing that everyday life itself can be an act of worship. 

The classy cover and page designs invite the reader to open it and ponder the words and reflect.  This book would be a great gift book for a wide range of people – new or mature believers or worship leaders, etc., whether or not you are an actual fan of her music.  A companion CD is also available.

Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith -- Book Review

Do you love Jesus and want to be all He called you to be?  Do you look down on people who don’t share the same passion? Do wimpy Christians annoy you? Do you get upset with people who call themselves a Christian but don’t act like one?  If so, you might be a ‘Pharisee’.

Spiritual passion is truly a gift, but it also puts us at risk of pride and exclusivity.  In Larry Osborne’s book Accidental Pharisees, he shows that the problem isn’t spiritual zeal, because we are called to be zealous. The problem comes when we mix out spiritual passion with a hyper-individualized spirituality, which yields toxic results.

We immediately think of being a Pharisee as being a bad thing.  It means being self-righteous and hypocritical, doesn’t it?  True, but Osborne reminds us that Pharisees were highly committed to God. They meticulously obeyed Scripture – and they weren’t searching for loopholes. Their rules came from rigorous study of Scripture and hours of debate.  They didn’t take reverence for God or Scripture lightly.  However, their passion made it easy to fall into a harsh trap of legalism.

Osborne shows us how this can happen to us.  In the desire for a pure church, we may still welcome the worst of sinners into our midst, but we snub the weak believers.  We don’t have room for people who are secret disciples, weak in faith, or are ladder climbers.  Jesus didn’t do that.  Osborne explains how and why.

There will never be a shortage of unhealthy Christians. So don’t get disgusted.  Don’t help Jesus yank out the weeds in the wheat.  It’s not our job. Besides, if we try, we might be pulling out wheat instead of weeds.

We scoffed at previous generations who were trapped in legalistic rules that ‘real’ Christians don’t drink, smoke, dance, go to movies, or play cards. But today, we are considered hip if we do those things, being in tune with the culture so that we can be ‘relevant’.  We might think that an authentic Christian works out and takes care of his body, doesn’t live in luxury and indulgence, lives in a modest home so he can be generous with his money, goes on mission trips instead of vacations to the beach, and uses buzz words like ‘radical’, ‘missional’, ‘gospel-centered’, and ‘organic’.  These are just a few examples.  Welcome to the new legalism.

I found much freedom throughout Osborne’s ideas in this book! We don’t have to feel guilty if our gifts and calling don’t fit with the flavor of the day.  God made us to be or do what he gifted us to do. If He wanted me to be an overseas missionary or world-wide evangelist, he would have given me an outgoing people-personality with the drive to take risks.  We so easily by-pass the verses that tell us to live a quiet life or work with our hands because it doesn’t fit with what is popular Christianity right now. 

This book is phenomenal!  It opened my eyes to blind spots that I never guessed even existed in my life.  It helped me recognize that I have been carrying a load of free-floating guilt of never doing enough.  God used this book to release me from feeling like I have to keep being better and keep doing more to be all He created me to be, and instead, just follow His leading and live a life of love.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Zondervan publishing in exchange for my honest review.

A Prayer of Praise When Things Don't Make Sense

I praise You for Your Sovereignty over the broad events of my life and over the details. 

With You, nothing is accidental, nothing is incidental, and no experience is wasted.  

You hold in Your own power my breath of life and all my destiny. 

And every trial that You allow to happen is a platform on which You reveal Yourself, showing Your love and power, both to me and to others looking on.  

Thank You that I can move into the future non-defensively, with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead, for you hold the future and You will always be with me, even to my old age...and through eternity.

(quoted from 31 Days of Praise, by Ruth Meyers, page 50-51)