The Transforming Word of God

Have you ever felt as though you were in a whirlpool of activity, a whirlpool that was sucking you down, down, down? Or perhaps it was more like you were being carried downstream in a rush of responsibilities over which you had no control, unable to fight the currents that were swiftly carrying you toward the falls and eventually plunging you to self-destruction? I have. During those times, I continue to read and study my Bible. I even have prayer times, albeit rushed or while lying sleeplessly in my bed at night.  Recently, when panic won out over sleeplessness, I left my husband snoring away on his side of the bed and escaped to the other end of the house, where I cried out to God for His peace in the midst of it all. Remembering a verse I memorized a long time ago—"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you"—I opened my Bible to Psalm 116:1-9:  I love the Lord, for he heard  my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his e...

Everything is ready for tomorrow—presents are wrapped, cookies are decorated and packaged, ingredients are ready for my crockpot dish—and so I'm taking a few moments on this Christmas Eve to write what's been on my heart for the past week. As I reflect on the birthday we celebrate, I realize we think about the Babe in a manger more than the reason for His coming. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Easter. Remember what the angel Gabriel told Mary about the son she would conceive? "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 2:32-33). This would be the long-awaited Messiah, although He would not fulfill the prophecies as the Jews anticipated. He would establish a spiritual kingdom, but His earthly kingdom is yet to come. And when Joseph thought he should divorce Mary quietly ...

'Tis the Christmas season, a most busy time of the year—an exciting time of the year. It's also when we celebrate the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I think there is something miraculous about every birth: to hold a newborn in your arms and to realize that incredibly formed creature began from a microscopic egg and seed; to try to imagine that wondrous infant curled up inside mother's womb; to feel those tiny fingers curled around your own. Yet the birth of Jesus Christ was a far greater miracle. Just imagine God Himself hiding in a woman's womb, developing and moving and then being born. Imagine the creator of language crying to let His mother know He was hungry or uncomfortable. Imagine He who breathed life into the first man wearing diapers, learning to talk, learning to walk. I remember holding my own infant son in my arms, born 35 years ago today, in the midst of the Christmas season. Gazing down at his tiny features with adoration, I ...

'Tis the holiday season, a time of running around, errands and parties. A time when we are surrounded by food and well-wishers. A time when we also feel weary and even stressed. Not feelings we want when we approach a holiday that is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of our Savior. What a time to be thinking about the importance of food in my life! It's all around me. And because I love to bake (and am pretty good at it, if I say so myself), my family and loved ones expect all sorts of baked goods from me. Not only that, I seem to think that the best way to show my love for others is by making their favorite foods. And now that my son is living in Tennessee, so far away from our Western New York home, I want to be sure to have plenty of his favorite foods when he comes to spend some time at home. That was Thanksgiving and will be Christmas. But a recent reading of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4), showed me something I'v...

How fitting that we in Community Bible Study would be discussing Ephesians 5:20 the week before Thanksgiving! I'm going to begin quoting with verse 19:      "...addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". Do you see the connection between joyfulness and thanksgiving? How can you be overflowing with music if you aren't joyful? How can you complain and be joyful at the same time? Obviously, a grateful attitude overpowers a critical, complaining attitude. The Apostle Paul gives a list of instructions to the Thessalonians which includes: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  While the verse in Ephesians tells us to thank God for everything, these verses admonish us to give t...

On this Veterans' Day, my thoughts have turned to my father and one of his stories that fits somewhat with last week's post. My father was always an extremely patriotic man, very interested in history and current events. Even at the end of his life, he would tear up just at the pledge to the flag. As the world watched the insidious evil of the Nazis spreading through Germany and marching across Europe, Dad was anxious to get out and fight. He was only in high school, yet my grandmother often said he seemed to know just what would eventually happen as he read newspapers and listened to the radio. In preparation for the war, Dad doubled up on his junior and senior years of high school and enlisted right away. He tried the Air Force first and then the Navy, but neither would have him because he was color blind. He said he considered going to England to enlist because they were looking for color blind pilots under the assumption that they could see better at night. But he wan...

Exemption Theology. That's a term I learned this weekend from a recorded message by speaker Matt Heard while attending a weekend retreat with the Leadership Council of our Finger Lakes Community Bible Study. He began by saying that contemporary evangelism has an insidious theology problem, one he labels "exemption theology". We seem to think that the more we obey Jesus, the easier our lives will be; we equate blessing with comfort and ease. That is so true. We live in a culture that worships pleasure and instant gratification. We are self-centered. As Christians, we want to say with John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).  And I'm sure we mean it, but we also find it very difficult. Our natural instinct is to be self-centered. In fact, we're constantly told, "You're worth it." As Matt Heard pointed out, self-centered theology makes us ask if there is something wrong with us when things go wrong. Then we ...

"Hallowed be your name." Anyone familiar with the Lord's Prayer (so named because it is the prayer Jesus taught, not the prayer He prayed), knows that phrase very well. My dictionary explains that to hallow something is to make or set apart as holy; sanctify; consecrate. It also means to honor as being holy; revere; adore. So when Jesus teaches us how to pray in His famous Sermon on the Mount, He is telling us to treat God's name as holy, give it special respect. That doesn't mean we will toss it around without thinking about it, responding as so many do with "Oh, my God." God Himself is holy and His name must be revered as such. But I cannot help but wonder if we truly understand the meaning of holy; I think it goes way beyond a simple definition, way beyond its aspects of righteousness and purity. And I have a feeling that true comprehension of God's holiness would totally transform us, that we would bow in total humility before the Almighty...

Life has been extremely busy lately and I have had a hard time squeezing in time for my Bible study and prayer time. I often need the reminder of a bookmark in my Bible that says,     Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him... (Psalm 37:7). A familiar verse, but something about it caught my attention as I opened my Bible. Maybe it was the picture of the two empty rockers that beckoned me as though they were waiting for me to sit in one and invite the Lord to sit in the other. Be still.    Hmm. I can be still to read or knit or create cards or play computer games for hours, but sometimes I just can’t seem to still my mind, to empty it of all the many things I have to do or would like to do—or even those things I know I should have done.  Multi-tasking has become a way of life. Somehow, I don't think multi-tasking fits with the admonition to be still . Instead, it's indicative of the frenetic pace at which I live my life, at which most of us ...

Have you ever had someone in your life who just seems to watch for you to trip up? Who is sweet to your face but talks about you behind your back? Who hasn't? I don't think I have such a person in my life at the moment, but a few years ago I did. And I wrote about my thoughts, about the hurt, about the effect God's transforming Word on my attitude. I want to share some of that here on this post. The woman I wrote about was well-respected, was biblically well-versed, but she lacked compassion—at least for me. I saw her as the embodiment of 1 Corinthians 13:2, which reads, "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." In fact, by associating her with that verse, I felt vindicated about my antipathy toward her. But any peace I gained from that thought was very temporary. With the next report of her comments criticizing me, all my feelings rushed back...

In a previous post, I mentioned that I often use Scripture to jump-start my worship time, so I thought I would write out an example. The following prayer of praise is based on Isaiah chapter 40, beginning at verse 11. This is just an example of how I use God's Word to offer praise to Him. As individuals, we all have our own ways, our own needs. Certain things will resonate with us differently at different times or different stages in our lives. "Oh, God, how I love the picture Scripture paints of You as a shepherd! A shepherd who tends your flock, who gathers your lambs in your arms. I love to imagine me as one of those lambs You hold close to your heart. "I am especially amazed that the God of all creation should care enough to gather me in His arms! You know everything. You understand everything. You have never needed a teacher because all knowledge and understanding is from you. The nations are nothing compared to you. We people are mere grasshoppers when viewed fr...

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. As I read the first two verses of Psalm 9 (above), I couldn't help but notice that each statement begins with "I will". In other words, each statement is a willful determination, a purposeful choice.  And when I give wholehearted thanks to the Lord, when I recount His wonderful deeds, when I gladly exult in Him and when I sing praises to His name, I am worshiping my God!  I thank God for salvation, for my family, for my friends, that I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I thank God for His transforming Word, for church and Bible study groups. I thank God for sunshine and rain, for His beautiful creation, for the graceful deer I love to watch as they drink from the pond behind our home. I thank God for the awesome way in which our bodies are made.  And as I give thanks...

I think we all understand what worry is because we all have occasion to worry. Often it's something as simple as what I'm going to wear or what to serve for supper. Or whether rain will ruin our plans. Some people worry about their health. Others are concerned about cleanliness and hygiene. Some worry about what others think of them. Still others worry about diet.  Then there's worry about money. There's nothing wrong with any of those concerns. We all want to be healthy. Most of us want to be clean and keep our surroundings clean.  And I'm sure we all want to pay our bills and stay out of debt. But when we become preoccupied with legitimate concerns, allowing them to consume our thoughts and negatively influence our behavior, the worry is extreme and even sinful. Sinful? Yes. The Bible tells us not to worry. In Matthew 6:25, we are told not to worry—"do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear." J...

As I begin this blog, I believe it is necessary to share some of my faith journey. When I look back on my life, I think I have always believed in God, always believed in the truth of God's Word, the Bible, and always believed in the reason of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection. But belief isn't enough for a relationship with the God of Creation. I had to realize that very fact, to understand that my imperfections caused me to fall far short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and to comprehend the consequences of ignoring the personal offer of justification. [An easy way to remember the meaning of justified is being made "just as if I'd never sinned".] I needed the salvation that Jesus Christ offered when he bore the punishment for my sins and the sins of the world on the cross. That day came when I was seven years old. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember the church service ending and my father saying, "I sensed you were feeling co...