Bible Reading: Like Looking for Thimbleberries

How is reading the Bible like looking for wild berries?

Today I am sharing part 5 of the BibleDude.net Ephesians Project and would love to see you there. The article begins…

Have you ever noticed how much “Once upon a time” sounds like “In the beginning”? It’s how the great stories begin (and reveals where the great stories were born). I noticed this when I read Ephesians the way I went looking for thimbleberries.

We were backpacking near Vail, Colorado. I had found…

(Continue reading at BibleDude.net.)

Bible Reading: The “When” (Timing and Tenses)

List 1
Poverty.
Hunger.
Weeping.
Being hated.
Insults.

List 2
Financial abundance.
Comfort.
Being well-fed.
Laughter.
Being held in high regard.

Would I prefer List 1 or List 2? Which do I think is better?

***

Backwards, counterintuitive, upside-down, ridiculous. Sometimes, when I read the Bible, these words come to mind.

I love when that happens! I love those attention-grabbing, initially confusing parts of God’s Word, for they are like ice water down my back. In those passages God takes my face in both hands and turns me to look at Him. (“Okay, Daddy, I’m looking!”)

And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say,

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
(all quotes are from Luke 6:20-26)

I raise an eyebrow. Poverty is a blessing?

“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you…”

What on earth?! Poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated—these are blessings?

I slow down to look again. Childhood grammar lessons kick in, and I spot words in future tense. I begin to think of the “when.”

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven…

I look not at the now but at the later. These blessings are blessings because of the later. I think the Lord wants me to have a pilgrim mindset, a Kingdom perspective. Then, I will have a fuller realization of how blessed I truly am.

I see with dim vision, as through translucent instead of transparent glass. I still do not have a mental grasp of why I am blessed, I who hunger and weep. The mystery remains, really. But these declarations from Jesus—”Blessed are you”—help shape my thinking, bit by bit, into right thinking. The question is not, “What on earth?” The answer is, “What in heaven!”

Father, I know this is not my Home. Give me a Kingdom perspective so that I may live the way You want me to live, and truly count myself blessed according to the mind of Christ. And help me, if not (yet) to have a complete understanding of your Word, to take in the simple truths that You have for me at this point.

***

(Originally posted September 2, 2009.)

Read It Like You’re Bleeding [and a book giveaway!]

(***GIVEAWAY UPDATE*** Congratulations to Beth and Erica who will receive Discipleship Journal’s Best Bible Study Methods!)

Something about this woman drew me to her. I wanted to be her friend and probably would have pursued that friendship if I ever had a chance. Though I never knew her, she taught me a pivotal spiritual lesson—a Bible-reading lesson. I wish I knew her name.

If she were still alive…

Read the rest of my article at BibleDude.net: read it like you’re bleeding. At the end of the article are the book giveaway details! I’m giving away two copies of Discipleship Journal’s Best Bible Study Methods. I’d love to see you in the comment box over at BibleDude.net!

God’s Heart in a Little Green Marker

Why? WHY? Why-why-why?!

I want to know, too. So I take out my little green marker and highlight anything I see that answers the question, “Why?”

Reasons. Purposes. Motives.

Then I put on my magic…

Would you like to hear God’s heartbeat? I invite you to read the rest of my article at BibleDude.net: God’s Heart in a Little Green Marker. (I’d love to meet you in the comment box over there!)

In-Betweens Are Places, Too

I stalked him shamelessly. I hounded him, followed his scent, tracked his every move. I kept close on his tail, and I wasn’t even discreet about it.

In the process, I learned so much. Tracking Jesus was a fun and wonderful way to know him better…

Read the rest of this article at BibleDude.net. I’d love to see you there!

How Eternity-Hunger Helped Me

I find “the things of the world”
attractive. If sin didn’t allure,
we wouldn’t call it temptation.
But I also found a litte trick
that takes away the world’s
pull on me—just a switch
of some words that made me see
the world and grimace. It left
a bad taste in my mouth, and
the world became a little
more repulsive, a little
less attractive.

Want to try it?

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
(1 John 17)

The world is passing away.
The world = what is passing away.

The previous verses say:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
(1 John 2:15-16)

So, I replace “the world” with “[what is passing away]” in those verses and get:

Do not love [what is passing away] nor the things in [what is passing away]. If anyone loves [what is passing away], the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in [what is passing away], the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from [what is passing away].

The constant reminder that the world is passing away—not eternal—is a big turn-off to everything in me that longs for the eternal. The pull of forever with God, when I think of the world this way, helps me obey these verses.

The world is passing away. And I’m falling out of love with it.

Two Aromas

Some people are attractive, like magnets—Carol Mayberry, Tom Eklund, Jean Fleming, Jay Cline. If they threw a party, everyone would want an invitation. People look for them in a crowded room and hope for a chance to shake hands or say hello. Sometimes, even, when they walk into a room, people actually burst into a cheer.

But these four go beyond “magnetic personality.” They attract others to Christ. They live a life that results in others wanting to be closer to Jesus.

I want that. I want it bad.

I told my husband about it. “Some people are so attractive—I mean, they are magnetic people that attract others to Christ. You know, like Carol. I want to be like that.”

Charles nodded.

“Because of that, I’ve been meditating on something I came across in Proverbs.” I told him the verses:

Let lovingkindness and truth never leave you.
Bind them around your neck.
Write them on the tablet of your hearts.
Then you will have good repute
with God and men.
(Proverbs 3:3-4)

I kept thinking out loud. “So it seems like lovingkindness and truth would help me get better at drawing people to Jesus.”

Charles gave a thoughtful pause. “Those are good verses,” he said, “but I don’t think they’re about the attractiveness you’re talking about. There’s a difference between having a good reputation and having that magnetism for Christ.”

Ah.

I thought, then, of those verses about being a fragrant aroma. I made a mental note, a little to-do item: Copy those “aroma” verses and meditate on them.

I never got around to it. (That’s why mental notes are inferior to written ones.)

But God got me around to it.

Five months later, my Bible reading plan took me to Second Corinthians—the “aroma” verses.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.
(2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

I used to think being a sweet fragrance for Christ meant directing that fragrance to others—living so that people will like me, even if that meant conforming my personality to theirs. I have to listen to the music they like! I have to go to the mall if they like shopping! I have to be like Tom!

But my direction was all wrong. Being a sweet aroma does not mean being a people-pleaser. “We are a fragrance of Christ to God . . .”

I read the whole thing again. There are two aromas. I drew pictures of them in my journal.

One aroma is the knowledge of Christ. This aroma is from God, through me, to others.

The Knowledge-of-Christ Aroma:

The other aroma is me (“we are a fragrance of Christ”). This aroma is from me, to God, in the presence of others.

The Aroma of Me:

The knowledge-of-Christ aroma IS directed to others. But the aroma of ME is to be Godward.

I am to be a God-pleaser.

I shouldn’t worry about how people perceive the aroma of me, whether they think my life-fragrance is a sweetness or a stench. I shouldn’t adjust my life according to what people think (which seems awfully similar to fad-conforming peer pressure), but according to what God thinks.

If I want that magnetic-personality, attractive-fragrance that draws people to Christ, the point is not to please them but to please God. Then of course, though the aroma is Godward, the people around me will pick up the scent.

Father, keep reminding me that my fragrance is to You and for You. Please use me to spread the knowledge of Christ to those around me.

This Wednesday Ann Voskamp hosts a community of those who share about “The Practice of Faith.” Click on the Holy Experience badge below to read more posts on Faith!

Also linking with Bonnie Gray for Thursday’s Faith Barista Jam on Faith and Friendship. Click on the Faith Barista badge below to read more community posts!

Do You See Anything? (What To Do with Partial Vision)

I didn’t notice all the question marks until about chapter eight—questions from Jesus. Don’t you see? Don’t you hear? Don’t you remember? How many loaves did you start with? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?

I wondered about these questions in the Gospel of Mark. What do they reveal about the Lord? And as I pondered, I fell in love with Him again. Jesus is not a one-way God. He wants conversation. He wants interaction—with me.

Questions encourage remembrance. Also, Jesus’ questions show that He wants me to think. With questions, the Lord not only stimulates the disciples’ memory but engages them in conversation. And conversation requires response.

I was already thinking about this—about Jesus the conversational God wanting interaction with me, about Jesus not being a one-way God like a professor in a lecture hall but one who desires my response—when I arrived at Bethsaida with Jesus and the disciples.

In Bethsaida the beautiful, unnamed “they” brought a blind man to Jesus. They implored Jesus for the blind man’s sake. Touch him, Lord! Touch him!

Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him…

(all quotes from Mark 8:23ff.)

And here is the question that captivated me:

Do you see anything?

After reading this, I put on my running shoes for my daily half-hour run. I spent all those thirty minutes meditating on one question and asking it of myself: Do you see anything?

When Jesus asked, Do you see anything? He wasn’t chewing His fingernails wondering if the healing worked. He was being Himself, the conversational God, stimulating the man’s thinking, forcing him to pick up his head and take a look around, leading him to say in his own words what has happened so far.

And he looked up and said, I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.

Partial vision. Jesus didn’t immediately take this man all the way to 20/20. By taking him only part of the way, the Lord created an in-between time—and during this time, He asked a question.

Jogging, I turned off of Allegheny and uphill onto the steepest part of Centennial Boulevard, my regular route. The question repeated, like the cadence of my strides: Do you see anything?

Do you see anything?

Do you see anything?

I veered up the dirt trail that parallels the road. The evening sun warmed my right side as I jogged. Do you see anything?

When the Lord has given me partial vision—when He doesn’t give me all the answers right away (which is when I usually want them)—how do I respond?

I asked myself, then:

Do I see anything? What has God partially revealed to me, and how can I acknowledge it—at this point in the journey?

I considered: what, so far, are some things that I certainly know?

God loves me.
God wants me to be with Him.
God is teaching me to obey Him.
God’s plans for my future are solid
and always good.
God wants me to give more of my energy to homeschooling.
God wants me to pray more.
God doesn’t want me to attend or teach Bible study on Tuesday mornings, but only in the evening.
God wants me to take a break from teaching Sunday school.
God wants me to reserve my time and energy, in case I need to give more for our toymaking company.
God doesn’t want me to be part of the worship music planning team.

These are examples of what I see at this point. Yet, much more do I not see and not know. In these unknowns, I choose to trust Him and wait in the exciting in-between time—all the while looking up, seeing, and acknowledging the men like trees, walking. This is what I do with partial vision.

Father, thank you for what you have shown me so far. Thank you for your step-by-step guidance. Thank you for the in-between times, full of unknowns. I give my desires to you, trusting that you will accomplish your will in and through me. May I glorify you and accomplish the work which you have given me to do.

This Wednesday Ann Voskamp hosts a community of those who share about “The Practice of Faith.” Click on the Holy Experience badge below to read more posts on Faith!

Also linking with Bonnie Gray for Thursday’s Faith Barista Jam. Click on the Faith Barista badge below to read more community posts!

The Protection of Illness

I usually don’t drink enough water on a backpacking trip, so dehydration probably triggered the headache.

I tried the normal anti-migraine things to nip it in the bud—drink lots of water; eat protein; drink strong coffee quickly; lie down in the cool, dark basement. None of it worked.

Within hours, this thing had grown into the fiercest migraine I’d had in years—debilitating pain, violent nausea. I was reduced to the words: “Help me, God. Help me, God.” As hard as I could, I pressed hands to head and head to pillow to keep my brain from bursting out of my skull.

In the middle of the pounding, I remembered. God had taught me something in the Gospel of Mark, and I thanked Him that I could even think about it despite the vice clamped on the upper part of my brain.

Many sick or friends of the sick came to Jesus—flocked to Jesus—desperate for healing.

Others, Pharisees, came to Jesus wanting to kill Him.

I pictured these two kinds of people. On one hand, the sick. I imagined their ailments, perhaps lifelong, and the suffering they’ve endured. Doctor fees, degrading treatments, physical pain, emotional anguish. I could see why, when they heard about Jesus, they came running.

On the other hand, the Pharisees. They followed Him around and even invited Him to dinner to test Him, to trap Him, to find grounds to condemn Him. Watching Him especially on the Sabbath to see if He would heal that day, they cared more about the Sabbath (which is supposed to be for man) than they cared about man.

He [Jesus] said to the man with the withered hand, Get up and come forward! And He said to them [the Pharisees], Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill? But they kept silent.

After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
(Mark 3:3-6)

To actually want to destroy Jesus for healing on the Sabbath! Apparently, miraculous healings don’t astound everyone.

As I pictured these Pharisees, their hunting hatred, and the scornful looks on their faces, I realized . . .

None of these guys are sick. They’re all healthy—physically healthy—otherwise they would have cared more about Jesus’ healing than the fact that He did it on the Sabbath.

Would physical illness have changed their attitude?

Many who were sick came to be healed; others who were healthy came to kill. Would sickness have protected the Pharisees from being—well, pharisaical?

When I am sick, could it be a protection?

I’ve never had pride and a migraine at the same time. When I’m hurting, I’m not hating. Does God allow my illnesses or hard circumstances so that I might have a soft heart toward Him?

This is what I remembered that Saturday evening as I half wished I could cut off the throbbing part of my head: the pain I experience now is protective. In this pain, I am not a Pharisee. In this sickness, God brings me to healthy humility. Remembering my lessons from the Gospel of Mark, I held my head and thanked God.

Then I took an ibuprofen.

(This Thursday Bonnie Gray invites: Share a moment you felt close to God recently. Click on the FaithBarista badge below to read more posts on closeness with God!)

Why Jesus Came

My collection (so far) of “why Jesus came” verses:

to serve (Mt 20:28)

to give His life a ransom for many (Mt 20:28)

to preach in other towns, too (Mk 1:38, Lk 4:43)

to call sinners (Mk 2:17)

to do God’s will (Jn 6:38)

to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21)

to be the Savior of the world (1 Jn 4:14)

to die (Jn 12:27)

to save the world (Jn 12:47)

that the world might be saved through Him (Jn 3:17)

to destroy the devil’s works (1 Jn 3:8)

to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind (Jn 9:39)

to bear witness to the truth (Jn 18:37)

to save sinners (1 Tm 1:15)

to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10)