I believe, if you watch closely, you will see that those who keep or quickly recover their joy are those who by constant practice bring it all back to Jesus again & again. When they’re appalled by this world, they refocus on Jesus. When they’re devastated by people, they
steady themselves in Jesus. When they’ve lost faith in institutions, churches, leaders and, inevitably, themselves, they fix their eyes on Jesus and thank God he’s not like us. When they can’t make sense of a truth in Scripture or why it seems a promise was not kept, they
look again to Jesus, to the power of his cross, to the redemption in his blood, to the perfections of his person, to the permanence of his love & to the incomparability of his gospel & they remind themselves that his kingdom shall stand & he shall reign forever. And they rejoice.
This has always been and it will always be about JESUS. Genesis to Revelation is there to tell us about Jesus. The Holy Spirit came to empower us to know, serve and share Jesus. A fresh awakening will not come from getting all our biblical interpretations settled & agreed upon.
It will come when we divest ourselves of our idols and return to Jesus.
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Been in 1 Chronicles the last few weeks in my morning readings. The book that begins with 9 long chapters of genealogies & what seem like endless records of unfamiliar names ends with one of the most spectacular prayers ever penned in Spirit ink on the sacred scroll. It’s David.
He’s an old man now, about to publicly pass the crown to his son, Solomon. He’d had it in his heart to build a temple for the Lord but the Lord chose Solomon for the gargantuan task. David worked tirelessly to gather materials for construction: stones, lumber, precious metals
& the like, all in enormous quantities. He has gathered a great assembly for a 2-fold purpose. 1st, to enlist their support of Solomon whom he tells them “is young & inexperienced” & facing a great task “because the building will not be built for a human but for the Lord God.”
He’s working it out. God, I mean. I’m starting to see specks of light here & there. Fragments that one day, I think, in His glorious presence, will come together with a thousand unseen pieces & bring life to rhyme & reason. After a cycle of years crying WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING??!
He will, you know. God will work it all out. We are too nearsighted to see it here but, O Known of God, we will see it there. All rhyme and reason that fled us in the dark night will come to light in the bright and beautiful smile of Jesus Christ.
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Eph 1:11
WORKS ALL THINGS.
I pray this day God shines just enough light on a fragment of your life to...
Wanted to tell y’all something this morning. I was in the full throes of adulthood, probably not far from middle-age, when it 1st began to occur to me that not all the harsh difficulties in my life were consequences of my past sins long turned-from. It’s a rough way to live,
thinking that every bit of your hardship and suffering you brought on yourself with your foolish faithless decisions. It can be overwhelming and demoralizing. I want you to know that I have found Jesus so merciful, both in my reaping a whirlwind I’d sown & in the suffering
that simply accompanies life on terrestrial ground strewn with thorn & thistle. I also want to remind you that you can sow something new. Something of the Spirit. For me, I really could not break out of the cycle of defeat until I could fully accept I’d been forgiven for my sins.
Often asked how I make it. Hoping a 2-fold reply might help someone.
1) The Lord. This can’t go without saying. Crucial. Nobody gets a chance to speak to me before the Lord speaks to me each day through His word.
2) A handful of people who know how to love well.
It is the 2nd one I’d like to try briefly to analyze. When I say these people love well, I don’t mean that they have to wear themselves out building me up. Ick. Oftentimes they love well by just overlooking all the public drama and letting me get lost in their good conversations.
Other times they’ll let me express my exasperation & they’ll jump in there with me and commiserate. At times they will cry with me. Get mad for me. More often they will laugh with me. I say this because I think loving well involves all of these things. Knowing when to speak.
Been in Maryland for meetings this weekend. Rather than heading home to Houston, I’m flying to Austin to meet Keith to attend a wedding together of a good friend’s daughter. Since it fell on a work weekend, it was difficult to pull off. But, the thing is, there will be dancing.
We were juniors at Texas State at a fraternity-sorority mixer. He was president of his fraternity, I was president of my sorority. Music was loud, people partying pretty hard. Comes over to me. “Can I get you a beer?”
“No, thank you.” Walks away & thinks to himself, maybe she’s
too good for a beer. Lol. Walks back over. “Can I get you a daiquiri?”
“No, thank you.” Pauses. “Ok, a margarita.” I shake my head no then, seeing he needs an explanation, “I don’t drink.” (I was nothing at all if not a card carrying Southern Baptist.) Flummoxed, he walks away.
I’m wondering if it says anything at all when women theologians—academics—who’ve diligently studied the Scriptures, teach on women’s roles then have to leave social media because they know they’ll be torn to shreds by wolves. Not just disagreed with. Not just debated. Shredded.
I’m wondering if it says anything at all that people who shred them, slander them, do all they can to discredit them, label them and use them as object lessons so other women will see what will happen if they push back, never see their grave sinfulness.
I heard a very wise and insightful young woman say recently that there’s a particular cruelty that is reserved for women who rock the boat. Asked by the podcast host what she believed the explanation for such particularity might be and she answered, “Misogyny.”