Chosen (WIL 17)

I spent the first twenty years of my life trying to become something I'm not - normal, ordinary. In effort to assimilate myself, I dressed a particular way, educated myself on language and topics that are Hip, listened to trendy music, worked to make my Faith Safe for others and for myself.

I spend the next ten years resigning myself to my differences, then learning (slowly) to glory in them, to Value my honesty, my transparency, my Beliefs. I've grown to see myself more as God does and to love who He is remaking me into - the woman He intended all along.

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom 6:4).

Last year, God confirmed a call He's been placing on my heart. (A calling is something I: do for God, receive; it generally promises difficulty and even some suffering, but is an opportunity to be used by God. A Calling generally leads to downward mobility. (If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat, Ortberg.)) After gaining much ground in Relishing my qualities and character, He is calling me to look, in one exterior aspect, like most other people my age. He has called us to Parenthood - not only Biologically, but through Adoption as well.

One comfort I've had through this journey of valuing who I am, and am becoming, is my similarity to my family. They are supportive and understanding exactly when I need them to be. We have complementary personalities and giftings. We perceive and approach the world the same ways. We struggle with many similar issues.

Yet, this week, I heard the questions: What if they don't understand this Calling? Would you still follow?

Jesus lamented: "No prophet is accepted in his hometown" (Luke 4:24). He was a Prophet, but the people who knew Him best could not accept His Calling from God, to be humanity's Perfect Lamb, our Savior.

God's work and calling is always easy to put off, always easy to assign to someone else's plate. Being a Christ-follower is a Good Thing, as long as it's not dangerous, doesn't cost anything unreasonable, doesn't require Me to Go.

In his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns compares Christians to sleeper cells, waiting for directions from Christ for action. "We were confronted with a choice, which required us to reorder our priorities and our lives to become completely available to God, without conditions. We had become radioactive, post-resurrection Christians. We had joined the social revolution envisioned by Jesus for His coming kingdom in a deeper way than ever before" (p. 247). When they chose to move to Seattle, they said Yes to God in ways they hadn't before.

God has done a marvelous work in me, but He is now calling me to sacrifice my Desire to be Different from others. In learning to value my uniqueness, I am enabled to see more through His eyes. Now, like Abraham - called to sacrifice his beloved son Issac, I am called to lay down that which I've worked long and hard for. In return, God promises "to do immeasurably more than all [I] ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within [me]. 21To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" (Eph. 3:20-21).

We are ALL Needy, WIL 16

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer" (2 Cor. 5:14-16).

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend my Saturday evening cooking, serving, cleaning up a meal for Seattle's Central District's People in Need. In about an hour, we fed 125 people, some of them twice and thrice. My guard was halfway up, heightening my senses and reactions. I haven't served at this location before. You never know exactly what you'll encounter.

Programs specializing in People in Need must have strict rules of conduct, to keep the peace. I was very impressed with this Operation; how orderly the clients were - they knew the drill, they complied in exchange for Needs Met.

Cooking and cleaning is something I can do. It's easier than having a conversation, searching for things in common with someone who lives a very different life. Practical service necessary - and safer. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs clearly states that Basic needs must be filled in order to begin addressing higher needs, including Spiritual ones. (This is one reason I struggle with ministries that require attending a Gospel service before the meal. But that is a different post.) However, Practical service is a contact point, an in to some relationship.

Because I am Needy and still invited into wholeness in Christ, His friendship compels me to open myself to others in Need - Everyone. If I truly believe He died for ALL, I should see them as Deeply Loved, just as I see myself. I can look at them through Christ's Eyes, have compassion on them, identify with them.

"17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us" (2 Cor. 5:17-20a).

Although I cannot vouch for their Belief, I can testify to my transformation, my responsibility to accept others because I am accepted. I am Being Made New every morning because of His faithfulness and love (Lam. 3:22-23). As a recipient of His grace, a Being changed from glory to increased glory (2 Cor. 3:18), He asked me - sometimes commands me - to do what I can, where I am to bring others into His Love.

Miraculously, I was able to see each man as an individual, see past their shabby exterior, see their humanness in the midst of their struggle to survive. Many would not meet my eyes; some would only mumble that they wanted everything available on their taco. They seemed crushed under the weight of Deep Need.

Some may call what I felt Pity, but I placed myself in their shoes. I pray they felt more than Pity, that they felt Compassion - Compassion beyond me, from the very heart of God.

First Fruits

Yesterday, Bryce and I made leek and potato cakes (without the ham) to take to our family's Sunday dinner. They were excellent.

This morning, washing the pans and bowls from the weekend's cooking, I washed a bowl I inherited last year. This bowl was part of a processor set, re-gifted because the older relative replaced it with a newer model. It was offered because the newlyweds already had a processor and didn't need the ancient artifact.

When we got the contraption home, we found its quarks and the reason it was donated. I must say this experience reminds me of the year I worked with World Concern, sorting clothing donations to send overseas. The saying is: Kids say the darnest things. The reality was: Why do people donate unusable junk? Almost every session of sorting uncovered an item (or a bag full) that was complete garbage - rotted, moldy, dusty, in pieces.

In his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns brings up the unpopular subject of tithing. Personally, tithing is a direct challenge to my statement of trust in God. If I say I believe in and follow Him (also known as loving Him), I will do what He commands (Jn. 14:15). Leviticus 27:30 says: "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD." The first ten percent, not the last, not the diseased, not the unusable.

Stearns goes on to paint the reminding picture that Israel was a nation of subsistence farming. Giving the first ten percent of the crop was a HUGE act of faith (pg. 211). In the past year, I've done a lot of gardening. It takes most of a day, sometimes closer to a week, to get new crops in the soil of my little patch. My trip to the grocery store is so far removed from the idea of tilling for my food, trusting the seeds are good, that rain will come, hauling water around when it doesn't, vigilantly watching for pests and their larvae. I am a long way from supporting myself on what I can coax from the ground.

My situation is different than ancient Israel's, yet, my taste of raising crops and the work it requires sharpens the faith it takes to tithe. Perhaps that's why only about five percent of American Christian households tithe at all. The average American church goer, in 2005, gave of a whopping 2.58% of their income (use his web reference). Of that 2 percent, the average American church doles out only 2 percent to overseas missions.

I don't know about you, but I need God to break my stubborn heart. It's so tempting to keep His blessings to myself; but I am meant to use my blessings to bless others. World Vision's founder, Bob Pierce, often prayed that his heart would be broken by the things that break God's heart - that he would be filled with God's compassion and perspective.

But we can be forgiven and transformed. If we humble our hearts, He is faithful and will heal our land (2 Cor. 7:14).

And: Thank you for thinking of giving to people in need. I certainly testify to the relief it is to Give Away, declaring that my Stuff has No Power over Me, declaring my dependence on the Only One who is worthy of Glory and Honor and Power. However, when donating, please evaluate whether the item is actually usable, or if it belongs in the trash.

Secret Giving, WIL 14

I mowed my neighbor's lawn this week. I did it because their mower was in the shop (I asked last week if I could borrow it, since mine won't run longer than 2 minutes at a time). I also had the time and the energy, although I was sweating through my layers due to the sunshine and their extra-large yard. I felt good afterward; tired, but satisfied.

I was satisfied because I was able to serve them in that way, to deepen our miniscule connection, to tangibly love my neighbor as myself. Through my small act of kindness, I felt a part of God's great love for them - a shadow, really - and it was easier to pray for them.

Wow! I got all that out of mowing a lawn?! Well, I got it from being available to God's suggestion while I was doing laps around my yard.

I certainly didn't do it for a reward. However, they are decent people - one more notch in my prayer to love 'people' more - and insisted on a formal Thank You.  Jesus teaches to us serve those who cannot repay you (Luke 14: 12-14), to please and seek God's approval, not men's (Gal. 1:10), to give in secret to receive God's greater reward than earthly acknowledgment (Mt. 6:1-4), to lay your treasures in Heaven (Mt 6:19-21).

I once hear a sermon about Secret Giving. This pastor regularly went out to breakfast looking for someone's breakfast to buy for them. He always gave instructions to the waiter to not reveal whom was paying the bill. Inevitably, some people insist on knowing their benefactor and pressed to know. The pastor was disappointed every time the person he was trying to bless found out that he paid their bill because, he reasoned, that his Heavenly reward was truncated by the earthly 'thank you' he received.

I'm not sure I completely agree with his conclusion, but it was interesting enough to stick in my memory for a few years. Is it really one or the other? 

Love and Loss, WIL 13

Is it better to have loved and loss rather than never loved at all?

Love is so wonderful. Loss is so awful. I believe the Gospel says it is better to love and lose. We were created with emotions to live abundantly in the present time...

Jesus modeled love and loss. He is our example.

In choosing to avoid the loss (the negative side of relationship), I am also choosing to avoid the love (the positive side of relationship).

Am I really a fully living human being when I avoid both sides and sit in the middle, on the fence?? Where do you sit?

The power that produces blessing comes through brokenness. Anne Graham Lotz