The Small Branch

  I live in the woods.   There is a ring of grass around my house and then woods, including lots of weeds.   There are cacti around, which seems odd based on the climate and makes me wonder if someone dumped them out at one time.   There are also some weeds that have weird silvery leaves with spikes on the edges.   Today, I looked out of my window and one of the cacti has a beautiful yellow flower on top.   The spiky weed just a few feet away has a lovely purple bloom.   Isn’t it amazing how something so harsh, even painful, can have beauty come from it?   I am reading a book of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons from the book of Job (I’ll get to a book review on it when I finish).  Job suffered a lot and not because of anything he did or didn’t do.  Sometimes life is just hard.  Sometimes, God allows us to suffer so that we will have all the extra and unnecessary stuff stripped away and He can bless us with better.   That’s wh...

  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...

  Dealing with our sin is an important part of our walk with Christ.   We start the journey by repentance, because of the faith He has given us (there are many who debate which comes first, faith or repentance, and I’m not really qualified to join that debate other than to recommend, again, The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson).   We continue the journey by repenting as sin in our lives is revealed to us.   Today, though, I’m not really addressing dealing with our own sin.   Today, I have a lot of questions about dealing with other people’s sin. We all know that the sins of others can affect us, sometimes in very detrimental ways.  Sometimes, we are directly hurt by their sin, whether  physically, like with a drunk driver causing an accident, or emotionally, like with an adult child who chooses rebellion rather than obedience to the Lord.  Sin also has affected creation and means that we have natural disasters like hurricanes, floods,...

 Here's a question:  if you have a toddler and he is trying to climb into the fireplace while there is a fire burning in it, is it more loving to let him climb into the fire because he wants to and you want him to be happy OR is it more loving to snatch him away from it and paddle his behind so that he knows not to do that again?   Why do we think God should respond to us "climbing into the flames" of our sin any differently?   And why do we respond to others' sin by excusing it, claiming that we are being loving?  Be loving.  Speak truth.

 I've been listening to a sermon series on Galatians .  I'm no where close to done with it (there are 24 sermons, as you can see), but I am finding my thinking challenged and convicted.  You see, I grew up in a "performance based" household.  Everything I did was to gain favor with someone.  In a lot of ways, while I had a basic understanding of grace, I thought God was the same way.  This balance of works/law and grace is hard to figure out.  Especially for someone like me who wants to puzzle things out until complete understanding dawns.  I don't really think complete understanding will dawn for me on this one for a very long time, if it does this side of heaven.   Galatians 5:1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."  At the same time, in chapter 6, verse 9, Paul says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do n...

 I wanted to add to what we started in the previous post.  If you are wondering if you can be used by God with your past, the genealogy of Jesus is a great place to look.  Noah imbibed too much (Genesis 9:21).  Abraham lied about his wife to save his own skin, possibly sacrificing her, not once, but twice (Genesis 12:11-13 and Genesis 20:2).  Rahab was a prostitute (Joshua 2:1).  Ruth was a Moabite, a hated race (Ruth 1:4).  David was an adulterer and a murderer (2 Samuel 11).  Solomon was a task master and loved too many women (1 Kings 11:3 and 12:4).  The point is, even though these men and women were totally human and made huge mistakes, God still used them to bring the Savior of the world to earth.  You see, it isn't about us.  It isn't about our skills, talents, "goodness", or mistakes.  Everything in life is all about God.  So the question isn't if we have done too much to be lovable and used of God.  The questi...

 Have you ever thought that?  Said it?  Turned your back on God because you believed it?  Looked for life in other places because you were sure you had blown it too badly?  Today I want to look at one example that might help put some of those lies to rest. Acts 7:23-24 says, " When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.    He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. "  So Moses is a murderer.  He was defending someone else, but still, he killed someone.   But then Stephen continues in verses 35-38, " This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.   He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years i...

 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...

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...

 In Mark 1:40-45, we are told about a leper that Jesus heals.  Of course, there are lots of lessons to take from this incident, but I want to look at one verse.  Jesus tells the man not to tell anyone about what happened, but verse 45 says, "But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere."   Did you see that?  Jesus had to stay in unpopulated areas.  A leper was considered unclean and, therefore, unfit for society.  A person with leprosy had to live in the unpopulated areas.  Now that the man was healed, he could go into the city, the populated areas, because he was now clean (once he had visited the priest and done as the law commanded).  Jesus had been in the towns and cities, the populated areas, but, because He chose to heal this man, He now needed to stay in t...