Where the Grass is Greener

We sat across from each other over coffee and crumpled, crumby napkins, catching up.

She told me how long her evenings had been with her hubby working extra hours.

I tried to feel compassionate but was mostly wondering how she could complain...after all she has three solid days of solitude every week. What I wouldn't give for that!  I'm certain if I had 21 blessed hours of peace and quiet I could leap over tall buildings in a single bound.

I felt horrible immediately.  If we had to pick challenges, I'd keep mine over hers any day.  Yet there I was peering over the fence at her presumably greener grass.  Because we have that kind of friendship, I confessed.  She 'fessed up too.  Apparently she'd been thinking my grass was looking pretty sweet.

The seductive allure of that emerald green grass on the other side of the fence.

I heard a message last summer about longing for your neighbor's greener grass, and how our own would be greener if we'd take care of the weeds.  My head assented to the sound logic, but my heart was heavy.  I know better than anyone else just how weedy my lawn is and how hard I've worked to eradicate all the nasties.  How many times I've been certain that I finally annihilated one only to find it as hardy as a wretched dandelion.  Exhausting.

There is, however, a place where the grass is green beyond my wildest dreams.

This green meadow is not of my own making.  It's a place discovered while following the Shepherd.

When I follow Him I have everything I need.  He lets me rest in those green meadows.  There He renews my strength.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness.  He wants to.  He's a shepherd.  He leads me into righteousness--it's not the result of my own efforts.

The key to greener pastures is not in seeking weeds, but in seeking the Shepherd.  If you see a weed, by all means, ask the Shepherd how He wants you to deal with it.  Otherwise, let's keep our eyes on the Shepherd and our ears tuned to His voice and follow.  If you feel lost, find His voice in a favorite Psalm or begin to worship, giving thanks in all things.  This will lead to pastures so green you'll never long for the turf on the other side of the fence again.

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

He guides me along right path,

bringing honour to his name.

My cup overflows with blessings.

Psalm 23:1-3, 5b NLT

The Joyful Liberator

It's the Day for Remembering...our annual pause to seriously focus on honouring those who have given their lives for our freedom.  

Once again I tell my favourite story of the day my father's village was liberated, of handsome Canadian soldiers, and joyful freedom dancing in the streets.  I want my kids to know.  It's their story.  I want them to pass it on to their kids.  They need to know that at one time their ancestors were captives and that others paid the ultimate sacrifice to bring freedom.  The life they enjoy today was purchased at great cost by others.  

The story segues easily into the ultimate liberation story.  We who were once captives have had our freedom purchased by One who lived in perfect glory but willingly gave up paradise to live among us and ultimately die so that we can live.

He did so willing.  "Because of the joy awaiting Him."  

I used to think this "joy awaiting" was the privilege of being seated at the right hand of the Father.  But He'd already been with the Father.  He didn't need to endure the cross to gain that. 

I think the joy awaiting Him was the joy of seeing you and I set free!  His death on the cross purchased healing for the broken hearted...liberty for captives...prisoners set free...joy for those who mourn...beauty for ashes...  

Anticipation of all that redemption was enough to make him "disregard the shame of the cross."  It was nothing to Him in comparison to the joy of seeing you and I set free from the chains that bind us.

He loves you so much!  He wants to you be free from anxiety, shame, the weariness of carrying overwhelming burdens.  He is your joyful liberator.  Your freedom is worth everything to Him...so much that a hideous death was nothing in comparison.  

Reach for it.  Receive it.  Savour the freedom.  Worship.

 But now, by giving himself completely at the cross, 

actually dying for you, 

Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, 

whole and holy in his presence.

Colossians 1:22 MSG

Hebrews 12:2; Isaiah  61:1-3

Taking January Back

It's funny how when I take the terrifying step of being especially vulnerable in a post I get a lot of responses...

I've had a lot of responses to yesterday's post.  There's a common theme.  January is tough.  There is a myriad of reasons.  A lot of it is associated with the weather--lack of sunlight and outdoor exercise--post holiday blues, sugar low, financial struggles...  It's a long list and each individual is unique.

These factors are very real.  We live in human "mortal" bodies that are influenced in more ways than we know.

I absolutely believe that our Father recognizes this and that He cares...

We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.

He's been through weakness and testing,

experienced it all--all but the sin...

I also believe that we have an enemy who recognizes our weakness and vulnerability, who won't hesitate to take advantage...

Keep a cool head.  Stay alert.  

The Devil is poised to pounce and would like nothing better than to catch you napping...

Catch me napping.  Lull me in to thinking that Vitamin D is my only problem...  What if that enemy can get me to buy into the idea that I'm a victim of all these very real natural forces?  I think he can get me so focused on those facts that I forget there's potential for a greater power to work in my "mortal body."  Before I know it, I've made an agreement with the spirit of heaviness and am effectively bound and chained.

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life...

for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells

--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--

you yourself experience life on God's terms.

It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God

who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life,

he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus,

bringing you alive to himself?

When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus),

you are delivered from that dead life.

With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

I want to take January back.  I don't want it to be a cursed and hopeless month.  It may not be the easy, breezy days of summer, but I refuse to be chained.  I'm going to take my Vitamin D and "stay alert."

If you need a song to help shake off the heaviness, if you want to raise a shout that, "My heart is free, no chains on me," click here.

Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 5:8; Romans 8:9-11  MSG

Banner of Love

"He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love..."

A banner is a flag that identifies an army--it tells for whom the soldiers fight.  The one that He carried in His fight for us identified Him as fighting for love.  Not for dominance--His desire was not to suppress us, enslave us, or force us under His authority.  He fought for the sake of love...to set us free.  So that He could bring us into His "banqueting house"--the place of abundance where all our needs are met.

He humbled Himself and came as a baby in a manger...under a banner of love.  He walked dusty roads of human discomfort and sorrow...under a banner of love.  He healed, taught and fed the hungry...under a banner of love.  He willingly endured agony unto death on a cross...under a banner of love.  

He now sits at the right hand of the Father and the banner is still waving...and He's inviting you and me to come and sit and feast at His table.  To taste of His love and freedom.  I see Him calling the weak and the weary and the wounded to come and savour His goodness, to be healed and refreshed.  

Come, sit under His banner of love. 

Song of Songs 2:4

Freedom!

I grew up on stories of my family's experiences in World War II.  I never got tired of any of them, but my hands-down favourite was the story of the day Canadian soldiers liberated their village.  The idea of being born into occupied territory, always living in fear and hunger, and then  having handsome young soldiers show up and tell you that you're free...it captivated my imagination.

I love the movie Braveheart too.  All the gore and action that would normally turn me off completely is no match for the passion it stirs in my heart.   The thought of a man who will stop at nothing to gain freedom captivates me.

The idea that young men would leave their homes and families to sail across the ocean to liberate a country and a family that they'd never met is more than I can fathom.  That someone would die for my freedom is...breathtaking.

We were created to be free at any cost! I have a passion for freedom.  I want the whole world to know that our freedom has been purchased for us.  Someone did give everything for our freedom!  Freedom from every form of oppression has already been purchased for us...from fear, addiction, depression, anxiety, self-hatred, anger, bitterness, rejection, abuse, despair--you name it!  The one who the Son of God sets free is truly free.

However, it is necessary to believe and receive the gift.  The first step is to believe that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God and that His death and resurrection purchased your freedom from the ravages and pain of a sin-broken life and world.

How sad would it have been if my father's family had told the liberating soldiers, "That's nice," and then returned to their home to live as though nothing had changed?  Every life that had been laid down for their freedom would have been wasted.  The gift had to be believed and received.

To receive the freedom we need to follow the guidance of the Liberator.  He leads us into more and more freedom...through forgiving those who have hurt and harmed us...by thinking His kind of thoughts...by receiving and using the gifts of His Spirit...by trusting that He can make something beautiful out of everything that we give to Him...by believing that through faith in Him all things are possible!   Relationship with Him heals the wounds of the past and transforms a life.  Failure to follow His directions in these things will leave the shackles on even though they've been unlocked.

He loves us so much!  Everything He has ever done has been about connecting us to His heart of love and freedom.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the broken hearted

and to proclaim that captives will be released

and prisoners will be freed.

He has sent me to tell those who mourn

that the time of the Lord's favour has come...

He will give a crown of beauty for ashes,

a joyous blessing instead of morning,

festive praise instead of despair.

Isaiah 61:1-3a

John 8:36

Liberation

My father was born in an occupied country. Life was lived as the enemy dictated. Hunger and anxiety were constant companions. All of that was normal, the only life he'd known. He remembers enemy soldiers taking the little food they had and soldiers sleeping in their barn. He remembers huddling with his father against a wall while bombs were being dropped all around. The only life a five-year-old had known until one day...

The best memory, the one that's poignant and stands out above all others, is of the liberation celebration and his first piece of chocolate. A whole bar of chocolate wrapped in shiny gold and blue paper--all his. A smiling Canadian soldier in a green uniform. Music playing. Girls in white blouses and orange sashes. Exuberant joy! A whole new beginning.

Things didn't change overnight. Reconstruction took years, but the atmosphere was transformed by freedom.

We too were born into "occupied territory". Restlessness, dissatisfaction and anxiety are normal. Most live according to the dictates of the enemy. They've heard that a Liberator came and signed a Freedom Proclamation, but they don't believe it. There's so much evidence to the contrary. Collaborating with the enemy seems like their best hope of satisfaction. Some believe, but they don't think they'll experience freedom until "someday" and so they huddle in darkness hoping to survive until the Liberator returns.

Others have seized the Proclamation and claimed it as their own. They are shouting and waving it around, singing songs of freedom. This Resistance band is determined use the weapons provided by the Liberator to push back the enemy, to be part of the reconstruction, and to live according to the truth of the Proclamation regardless of evidence to the contrary until the Liberator returns.

May you be like the little blond boy receiving with wide-eyed wonder the shiny morsel of gold-wrapped truth that Freedom has come. Taste its sweetness. Be revived and celebrate. Declare it to those still sitting in darkness--He has come! Your freedom has been won!

You were dead because of your sins
and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.
He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15

Through the Eyes of Chirst

I have a poster hanging by my bathroom mirror. It's a beautiful work of calligraphy and it tells me Who I Am in Christ. I read it regularly and it's changed me a lot. It lets me know when I'm feeling down or discouraged because I'm believing a lie. The words on it release me from shame and insecurity.

I am God's child...Christ's friend...free forever from condemnation...cannot be separated from the love of God...can find grace and mercy in time of need...have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit...may approach God with freedom and confidence...

One day I was standing there, my peace disturbed by the actions of someone else, when I felt convicted to read those statements with the offenders name in place of "I". You see, these statements are true of everyone who has received by faith the work of Christ on the cross. With His blood He purchased this freedom for all of us.

_____ is a friend of God..._____ is bought with a price and belongs to God...______ has been justified..._____ is free from any charge against him...______ cannot be separated from the love of God..._______ is hidden with Christ in God...______ is God's temple...______ is God's coworker...______ is seated with Christ in the heavenly realm...

By the time I had read all thirty-three statements in this other person's name, I was humbled and aware of a much greater love in my heart than I'd had before. I'd seen them through the eyes of Christ. I was able to extend grace and honor--and it wasn't hard. My mind had been renewed.

In this case, I needed to let go of an offense. If confrontation had been required, I can't imagine a better way to prepare yourself than by reading this list with the other person's name inserted. Christ has paid such a high price for our freedom. He wants us to know who we are, and He wants us to relate to His other children based on who He says they are, not on how they behave.

Click here to see the full list of statements and scriptures about who you are in Christ. Study the supporting scriptures. Receiving it and believing it about yourself and others will change your life. Knowing that this is what Christ purchased for unbelievers will give you a greater passion to lead others into this truth--He thought we were all worth dying for.

YOU have been adopted as God's child...have access to God
through the Holy Spirit...
have been redeemed and forgiven...have not been given a spirit of fear,
but of power, love and a sound mind...are born of God and
the evil one cannot touch you...are a personal witness of Christ...
a minister of reconciliation for God...God's workmanship....


Therefore, accept each other just as Christ
has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Romans 15:7