The Small Branch

  This morning I was reading in Luke chapter 7, about Simon the Pharisee and the “sinful woman” and it hit me.   I have been struggling with pride my whole life, most of us do, I guess, but the last year or so it has been more and more obvious to me.   Have you ever noticed how much more we see our sin as we get to know the Father better?   Anyway, it hit me that I am, in many ways, a Pharisee.   I often think that my idea of how things should be is actually the way things should be.   As I was answering the questions in my study book, it became clear.   Simon was looking at the outside of a person, only her past actions, her clothes, her situation, etc.   How many times do I do that?   I was raised in a Christian home, but it was also clear that being a “successful, upper middle class American” was equally important and people were definitely judged by that standard.   I have worked in a private Christian school where students were ma...

  I have been thinking a lot about different manners of selfishness lately.   There are people that are very obviously selfish.   They are rude and obnoxious and everything has to be about them all the time.   But is there more subtle ways of being selfish that I need to root out of my own life? Being subtly selfish happens a lot.  I think it is a fine line at times.  Here are some examples I have thought of: Being willing to help someone out, but choosing to do what you want the way you want rather than listening to what they want help with and how they want it done Purchasing a gift for someone for a special occasion or even just because, but getting something you think is awesome rather than paying attention to the other person enough to know what he or she will enjoy the most Really, anything where you want to do something special for another person, but you are only thinking about what you would like other people to do for you rather than know...

  “The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will act arrogantly toward the old, and the worthless toward the honorable.” -- Isaiah 3:5 (CSB) The young acting arrogantly toward the old.  We are definitely suffering from this problem.  Notice that, in Isaiah, this is a curse as a result of Israel’s sin.  Today, we don’t just have disrespectful teens, but disrespectful 30somethings, 40somethings, even 50somethings.  Our culture values youth and tries to hold onto it as long as possible.  We are reaping the results of this trend of “youth culture” more and more today. This trend started about a hundred years ago with the beginning of the “youth culture.”  Sometime after WWII, we started using terms like “teenager” and separating teens out from adults in all areas of life.  Teens were all in high school and activities with their peers, rather than spending these years learning to be adults by sp...

  This year, I am participating in the G3 reading challenge (you can find this challenge HERE ).   One of the books that I have read so far is Edward T. Welch’s When People are Big and God is Small .   (I definitely recommend this book and the whole reading challenge in general.)   One of the main points of this book is that when people have a proper fear of the Lord, then we will fear nothing else.   Since fear of man is something I struggle with, I decided to do some looking into fear of the Lord and share my findings with you. Several times in Leviticus, we are commanded to fear the Lord (Leviticus 19:14, 31; 25:17, 36, 43; etc.).  Deuteronomy 6:13 says, “Yahweh your God you shall fear; and Him you shall serve; and by His name you shall swear,” and verse 24 says, “So Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God for our good all our days and for our survival, as it is today.”  Deuteronomy 10:20 says, “Yahweh your God yo...

  We have been talking a lot about encouraging the men in our church to lead their families Biblically, including discipling them.  As we have discussed this, one thing I keep thinking about is how much we have disrespected men in the last several decades.  It is no wonder they don’t want to lead.  They are continually told they are chauvinist or domineering if they try.  There are even women who will get angry with a man for opening the door for her.  Our culture does not want strong, godly men.   But how does that play out in my own home?  I definitely do not consider myself a feminist.  I am very traditional in my views of gender roles.  But does that show itself in my attitude and actions towards my husband, or have I been more influenced by the culture than I thought?  Lately, I am convicted that the later is true.  1 Peter 3:1-4 says, “In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any o...

 Have you ever felt pressure to witness in "just the right way" so that someone would come to know Christ?  Have you ever thought, "Oh no, I forgot to pray for that person's salvation today!  What will happen?"  I'll admit to thoughts like that.  For me, they come from a background of people teaching me that Jesus was necessary for salvation, but then I had better get to work to sanctify myself.  Of course, that isn't what the Bible teaches.  I have been studying Acts recently, and I came upon some verses I wanted to share with you. Acts 16:14 says, "A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshipper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul." Acts 18:9 and 10 say, "And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you , and no man will attack you in order to h...

 Have you ever used whitewash?  I haven't, but a lot of the books I read mention it (remember Tom Sawyer ?).  Basically, it's paint.  Paint makes things look pretty and new.  But have you ever painted over something only to later realize that you shouldn't have?  Take mildew.  If you paint over mildew without first scrubbing it out and killing it all, it will just grow back.  The paint doesn't fix the problem.  Paint is just a temporary cover up.  Our lives are like that.  If we think we will be better by looking better on the outside, we soon find that it is only a temporary cover up for a heart problem that needs to be fixed.   Matthew 23:25-28 says: 25  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.   26  You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the ou...

 Today, I am on the struggle bus.  For a few years now, I have struggled with some hurt and bitterness, much of which is probably caused by my own pride, against a particular group.  Every time I think I have totally turned this over to God and "gotten over it," something else happens and all the anger and bitterness flare to life in me.  I know this is totally wrong.  This attitude is sin and God doesn't like it.  It is ok to feel hurt.  But bitterness is not ok.  In the book of Hebrews, we are warned against allowing a root of bitterness to spring up.  Bitterness has to be torn out promptly or it just grows and grows.  Over and over in the Psalms, David (and others) talk about their hurt and difficulties when others are against them.  The hurt isn't the problem.  The bitterness is.  The pride is.  So, I am trying to be like David and turn my hurt into prayer and my upset into praise by taking my eyes off the situati...

Pride seems to be the root sin of all sins.  We think we know best, so we do things our way rather than God's way.  This is a huge problem for me and something I struggle with on a daily basis.  In Mark 10:43-44, it says, "But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all."  Jesus teaches us that we must be humbly submissive servants.  This means that we don't need to have our way or even that we need other people to see us serve and recognize us for serving.  The way of the Pharisees is to only serve and do "religious things" when others are looking.  We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and serve Him simply because we belong to Him and love serving Him. Sometimes, this is really hard.  My flesh wants people to see how much I have done for them and acknowledge it.  Especially as a mom and homemaker.  My flesh wants some gratitu...

     I am doing a great study on the Psalms of Ascent this summer.  Today, we started looking at Psalm 131:        "O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;       Nor do I involve myself in great matters,       Or in things too difficult for me.       Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;       Like a weaned child rests against his mother,       My soul is like a weaned child within me.       O Israel, hope in the LORD       From this time forth and forever." David gives us a great picture of how our souls need to rest in the Lord.  It makes me think about a toddler going to sleep on his daddy's shoulder.  I am told that, as a toddler, I fought sleep like crazy.  Sometimes, I think I still do in this picture of David's.  I should be just resting against my Father's strong shoulder, but instead, I ...