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Five Great Reads on Love

by | Feb 25, 2020 | Bible study, Books, Marriage

Five Great Reads on Love

 

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock

To wrap up our February thinking about “love,” I offer you, my beloved readers, five books about love: single love, married love, rabbit love, caregiving love, and last but not least, Jesus’ love. I hope you’ll find at least one great read here.

7 Myths about Singleness

Sam Allberry

Because I’ve been married for thirty-seven years, it doesn’t often occur to me to read about the single life, and for that, I apologize to all of my single friends, family, and readers. Sam Allberry, a single pastor, starts with the premise that singleness is a good thing. Sadly, too many Christians see singleness as somehow “less than” God’s full design. Allberry delineates seven myths about singleness, inviting readers, both married and single, to consider what it looks like to live a fruitful and full life as a single and to welcome and respect singles in a culture that too often overemphasizes marriage and family.

Intimate Allies

Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III

Instead of telling us “how to do marriage,” Allender and Longman tell us how God does marriage. The authors trace the history of marriage back to the first man and first woman, shows how everything went awry and how the Fall affects marriages today. Then they show the hope for marriage in the redemption of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite phrases from this book is about “calling one another to glory.” Marriage, Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III suggest, is not about our happiness; it’s about God’s glory. But we can take heart, because, as we grow together in glorifying God, happiness does come!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Kate DiCamillo

Because we all need to read more children’s books, and to become more like a little child…This is one of my favorite children’s stories that has profound truths for adults. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll simply say that it is about a vain stuffed rabbit who is humbled through much suffering. And it’s about learning how to love. Read it. Preferably in the hardback edition with the beautiful illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline.

Helping Those Who Hurt

Barbara M. Roberts

This classic by Barbara M. Roberts, Director of the Caring Ministry at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, is a helpful reference for all who minister to the hurting. With concise chapters on illness and aging, death, grief, addiction, rape, and many other crises, Barbara clarifies the needs in each context and offers practical counsel for a loving response. She ends with a chapter on forgiveness, a necessary aspect of the healing process. This book is about ten years old now; the only thing I could wish for is an updated version of it.

Love Walked among Us

Paul Miller

This is my favorite book on how Jesus loves, and on how we grow in love as we love like Jesus. A wonderful storyteller, Miller retells the true stories of how Jesus loved various people like the Samaritan woman, Mary and Martha, and even his enemies, the Pharisees. In the stories we discover that we can love as Jesus loved—by looking and listening, speaking the truth in love, depending on God, and dying to ourselves.  

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You Are With Me: A Meditation for the Lonely Times

by | Feb 18, 2020 | Bible study, Devotional, Valentine's Day

You Are With Me: A Meditation for the Lonely Times

When you’re feeling lonely…

Valentine’s Day can leave us feeling lonely, no matter how well-loved we are. Today I’m sharing an excerpt from the new devotional I’m writing for people recovering from all sorts of crises. It’s called “You Are with Me.”

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4, ESV

Traversing the road of recovery is not unlike walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Each journey is complex and mysterious, of uncertain length, and fraught with unknown fears. And yet, according to David, who journeyed through many dark valleys, we can “fear no evil,” because we are not alone. The Lord is closer than whispering distance, guarding and guiding us with his presence.

Imagine you find yourself in a narrow alleyway running between two high buildings in a dangerous urban area. No streetlights. No building lights. Stark starless night darkness. You can’t see the tips of your fingers, much less the end of the alleyway. It’s too late to return to the other side; before you saw what you saw, before the surgeon made the cut, before your loved one died. The recovery road has much in common with David’s valley of deep darkness.

Notice that David walks through this valley of deep darkness; he doesn’t run, even though he might be tempted to do so. Running isn’t an option when you’re recovering from disaster. Notice that David walks through this deep valley. There is no way around it; there is no turning back. The only way is to go through it, to get to the other side. Notice that David is alone in this deep darkness: “Even though I walk.” Even when we are in healthy community, we can feel isolated in recovery, as if no one else has ever walked this particular shadowland before.

How would it be possible to fear no evil in a place of such “suspense and surmise,” in which “the evil of evils is uncertainty”[i]? The answer comes in the pivot point, verse four, “For you are with me.” Earlier, David told us that the Lord, third person, is his shepherd; now he addresses the Lord directly:

“You are with me.”

You, the King of kings, are with me.

You, the lion of Judah, are with me.

You, the crusher of Satan, are with me.

Take heart, dear friends. His light, the light that has overcome the darkness, has flooded this dark valley. The Lord, your Shepherd, who counts you as his sheep by his rod, who protects and guides you with his staff, is with you.

Prayer

Lord, You are our Shepherd. We trust you to guide us, protect us, and secure us in this dark valley of deep uncertainty. Surround us with your love and mercy that we may never stray from you. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Psalm 23.

Listen to “God Is My Shepherd,” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtDXHgTi-5s.

For Reflection

What dark valley are you walking through right now? What is uncertain and frightening? How does it help to know the Lord is your shepherd?

[i] Charles Spurgeon, THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH NO. 1595 https://www.spurgeongems.org/vols25-27/chs1595.pdf, 3.

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5 Verses about Whole-Hearted Living

by | Feb 11, 2020 | Bible study, Valentine's Day

5 Verses on Whole-Hearted Living

 

It’s Valentine’s Week, and that always makes me think about hearts and what they have to do with Valentine’s Day, and where did Valentine’s Day really come from anyway?

(If you really want to know the answer, Wikipedia of course has a great article explaining that Valentine was a religious Saint, most likely martyred for his Christian beliefs by the emperor Claudius, and that hearts probably entered the picture with good old Geoffrey Chaucer).

Mostly though, in the spirit of focusing on true love during February, I was interested in what the Bible says about the word “heart.” It is primarily attributed to humankind, and usually refers to mind, emotions, or will.

Though “whole-hearted” living is kind of in fashion right now, it actually originates with the story of shalom God wrote into our very beings. With the Fall, hearts have been broken, but God’s restoring work through Christ transforms our hearts and frees us to live our stories for his glory.

With love and gratitude to my Living Story readers, I offer you…

Ezekiel 36:26

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

John 14:1

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Romans 10:10

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

2 Corinthians 3:2

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.

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On Dining with Strangers at Thanksgiving

by | Nov 19, 2019 | Bible study, Thanksgiving

On Dining with Strangers at Thanksgiving

We’re all strangers.

With all of the current heartfelt discussion about welcoming “strangers” into our country, I thought I’d return to some basic facts from history — and the Bible — about this feast we call Thanksgiving! 

When my kiddos were little, the pre-schools and elementary schools always had Thanksgiving feasts. For these sweet occasions, I was often given the opportunity to create a Pilgrim costume out of paper bags (and thanks be to God for the schools who did that for us poor parents :-)!!) or an “Indian” costume (as the first Americans were called then) out of a t-shirt, some brown dye, and some scissors (and again, for all of you schoolteachers who did that for us…my eternal thanks:-)!

As pretty as that tableau was, it only resembled part of the real first Thanksgiving, according to Joanna Brooks, writing about the first pilgrims for Smithsonian Magazine. For many of the immigrants to America, life was characterized by starvation, poverty, fighting, and murder. But somehow in the midst of the mess, some of these strangers came together and made a feast. Ever-so-briefly, there was ever-so-tentative peace on earth.

Will you dine with strangers?

As Christians, God has called us to a feast of thanks-giving. Together, we recall that God redeemed and transformed broken, sinful people. Christ fed us physically, with bread and wine, and spiritually, with his body sacrificed to redeem and renew us.

In a few days, you may be sitting at table with a fractured community (or you may be NOT sitting at table because of fractured community). My Thanksgiving prayer for all of us is that we can remember that we were once far off — from God — and from one another, and that our Savior brought us near:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Eph. 2:13

This Savior, who broke down the dividing wall of hostility, brought us together to feast and thank God as one. For this reason, this Thanksgiving, may we accept invitations to dine with strangers — even those in our own family! As we do, may we dream of a day when the feasting will be centered around the greatest stories ever told of the goodness of the Lord. Here is some Scripture that you may enjoy reading aloud alone or together as an encouragement to celebrate with hope:

Isaiah 25: 6-10, The Message
But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this mountain!”

 

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The Real Reason We Don’t Have to Worry

by | Oct 30, 2019 | Bible study, Suffering

The Real Reason We Don’t Have to Worry

Endless opportunities for worry…

  • The state of our nation.
  • Cyber attacks.
  • Teenagers texting and driving.
  • Loved ones addicted to destructive substances.
  • Layoffs at work.
  • An unwelcome diagnosis.

Some days, some years, it seems that fresh opportunities for high anxiety arrive with every phone call, text, or news report.

Why shouldn’t we worry?

Philippians 4 offers a hopeful response to anxiety, but it seems sometimes it is tossed out as a purported quick-fix remedy for all our worry. When we hear an abbreviated version, divorced from its context, which I believe I actually cross-stitched and framed for my mom once,

“do not worry about anything; instead, in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God…”

it can potentially put more pressure on us….We can end up worrying about our worry.

Learn how not to worry about your worry! #anxiety Share on X

We need “the whole story”…

We need to read more of Philippians 4 to know why we shouldn’t worry. We really need the entire book of Philippians, if not the entire narrative of Scripture :-), but just one more verse will help.

Recently, I discovered a little clause I had not paid much attention to before. (Side note: don’t you love it when the Spirit reveals new insights as  you study Scripture?!) I don’t remember ever seeing this little clause included on a memory verse card.

Here is the part most-often-quoted:

“do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Phil. 4:6-7

Please excuse me if I turn into an old-school English teacher for a moment:-)! Ready for a little quiz?
No grades, no red pens, just fun pre-smartphone grammar involved. What’s wrong with the first word of the first sentence —do?

If you gleefully shouted, “Oh, I know — it’s not capitalized!!” you probably were born before 1996 and might actually capitalize letters in text messages:-)! And that is the correct answer if verse 6 is an entire sentence.

The real reason we shouldn’t worry…

There is actually another clause in the sentence. It comes at the end of verse 5, and in the ESV is separated by a semi-colon (;) (yes, that little mark I always forgot to use instead of a comma to avoid run-on sentences! The whole sentence says,

“The Lord is near; do not worry…”

In the original languages, the Bible did not have punctuation; translators inserted it along with the chapters and verses. Some translations do have these two clauses as separate sentences, but I think the NRSV and the ESV get it right.

Enough grammar lesson — here’s my point —

QUESTION: How in this crazy world can we not worry about anything?!

ANSWER: Because, the Lord is near!

What does it mean that the Lord is near, when I can’t see him or touch him? The gospel story tells us:

  • He has come to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ – Immanuel. The Lord is near; do not worry.
  • Christ’s life, death, and resurrection has brought his kingdom near. Death is being defeated, and all of creation is being renewed day by day. The Lord is near; do not worry.
  • The Holy Spirit, Comforter, Guide, and Agent of Hope, is in us. The Lord is near; do not worry.
  • Christ is coming “soon” (Rev. 1) to finish the redemption work. Then God will be with his people, and his people will be with him finally and forever.The Lord is near; do not worry.

The Lord’s nearness helps us not to worry…

The Lord’s nearness gives us…

  • the confidence to pray and petition,
  • the reason to thank when our circumstances seem thankless,
  • and the peace that guards our hearts and minds from worry.

This is our good news today: Go in peace!

For Reflection: How have you experienced the Lord’s nearness and peace that surpasses all understanding in situations that would usually bring anxiety?

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Live by Every Word: A Meditation

by | Oct 22, 2019 | Bible study, Devotional

Live by Every Word: A Meditation

Dear Friends, I am privileged to be leading two workshops at the PCA Women’s Leadership Training February 20-22 in Atlanta. The overall topic of the training is Refreshed: Help and Hope for the Suffering. I’ll be teaching one on how God’s Word is so very near in suffering and another on grieving with hope as we wait. This training is open to everyone. Today, I’m sharing an excerpt from The Waiting Room: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in a Health Crisis which reminds us of how God works through his Word in our suffering. I hope you enjoy it.

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3, NLT

Anyone who has spent much time in the waiting room knows the humbling that comes during a health crisis. Stripped of the familiarities on which we often depend for comfort, we learn that we do not, in fact, live by bread alone.

The profound hope of Deuteronomy 8:3 is that God did not merely humble his people, but he also fed them. He fed them physically with something called manna, a word that in the original Hebrew literally means, “What’s this?” It was a food unlike anything the Israelites had ever heard of, seen, or tasted. It fell from the sky, and it looked something like Frosted Flakes but was a lot more nutritious!

God fed his people physically with this strange food, and he fed them spiritually with his Word. As we do our time in the wilderness of waiting, we are humbled, and our hunger and thirst for good news intensifies. More precisely, more powerfully than any IV fluid, God’s Word drips into our hearts and minds to slake our thirst, to energize us with the faith, hope, and love we desperately need.

Our faith grows strong muscles as we drink in the stories of miraculous deeds God has already done, such as…

  • plastering the land of unbelieving Egypt with frogs (Exodus 8:2).
  • knocking down a city wall with trumpet blasts (Joshua 6:1-6, 20).

Our hope is fattened up as we eagerly digest words like, “This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner” (1 Peter 4:13, MSG).

Our love is energized to flow outward as we taste the goodness of the Lord’s delight over us and the comfort of his nearness to us:

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, ESV).

Throughout our journey in the waiting room, I was often asked about my apparent calm. I could only explain it by pointing to three essentials: prayer, The Word, and community.

Dear friends, take up and read this marvelous Word; you will find there the sustenance you intensely crave.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for feeding us what we most desperately need – your Word. Not only did you provide the Scriptures, but you made the Word flesh, and you sent Jesus to dwell among us. Help us by your Spirit to meet Jesus in your Living Word day by day, moment by moment. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Romans 10:8-10.

Listen to “The Word Is So Near” by Michael Card, https://youtu.be/biXrKOaIJq4.

For Reflection

What verses have encouraged your faith, hope, and love during this season? Write them out in a journal, on a card, or on a note app on your phone.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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