The myth of self-esteem?

"We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; and when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered... what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image?" ~John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Shall we amuse them?

An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its impudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” That is clear enough. So it would have been if He has added, “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.” No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, “He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry.” Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? “Ye are the salt,” not sugar candy-something the world will spite out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, “Let the dead bury their dead.” He was in awful earnestness!

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, “Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!” Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel amusement. Their message is, “Come out, keep out, keep clean out!” Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, “Lord grant Thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.” If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They “turned the world upside down.” That is the difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy-laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God’s link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Honesty

I really like how Nancy Leigh DeMoss says it:
"Seeking God for personal revival requires a level of honesty that, at first, may seem quite threatening. Covering up our faults and failures is an involuntary reflex. At first glance, it often seems like the best option. We want others to think the best of us. However, humility (which we talked about last week as one of the first prerequisites for revival) requires the willingness to be honest with God and others about our true spiritual condition."

If we are truly looking for revival we need to be honest with God, honest with ourselves and honest with others.
"Nothing can enter heaven which is not real; nothing erroneous, mistaken, conceited, hollow, professional, pretentious. insubstantial, can be smuggled through the gates. Only truth can dwell with the God of truth." -Charles Spurgeon
See you Sunday!

Walk in the Light

"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1: 5-9

We finally rearranged our bedroom several weeks ago. Where I had the bed placed made the room look great, but it had one major flaw. There was a windowsill, right at hip-height on my side of the bed. There was plenty of room to walk, but invariably, after answering the late night "Mommy" call from Joelle, I would hit my hip on that sill and wake up with a nasty bruise. Never once did I hit it during the day, only at night when it was dark. Moved the bed...no more bruises. Yeah! Reminds me of 1 John. There is no safer place then walking in the light of God's Word.

John says that because God is light, there is absolutely NO DARKNESS in Him (v.5).
What are the implications of this truth for our relationship with God?
Are there any dark spots in your life?
Anything you think is "hidden" from Him?
Who are we deceiving if we defend ourselves and claim to be innocent when we have in fact sinned?
How does this affect our relationship with God and with others?

"If we feel we are innocent and have nothing to be broken about, it is not that these things are not there but that we have not seen them. We have been living in a realm of illusion about ourselves." -Roy Hession

Have a blessed day and may God shine the light of his love into the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts causing us to run to Him in repentance for forgiveness so that we will be found walking in the light.

Let's be honest...

I'm supposed to teach the ladies Sunday School class this week and we're looking at how to "Experience the Joy of Personal Revival", a study by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. This week the focus is on Honesty. Honesty with ourselves, others and God. Here's what I posted for today:

Still thinking about Honesty and the effects of being honest with ourselves and others...

After his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, David lived nearly a year with God's convicting Spirit pressing down on his soul. Being silent about his wrongdoing- refusing to confess his sin- only deepened David's anguish. He deteriorated physically, emotionally and spiritually. By not being honest with himself about the sin in his life, he ended up completely blinded to the truth of his situation and it took the prophet Nathan to open his eyes. Psalm 32 is David's firsthand account of the process he went through to discover the profound joy of experiencing God's mercy and forgiveness. In verse 5, David says:

" I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,'

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

When he finally let go of his sin, heaven-sent relief poured over him. The weight of his iniquity was lifted and his sin was carried away.

This can be our experience, too! God is wiling to "cover" (with the blood of Christ) every sin that we are willing to "uncover" before Him.

Is there any sin in your life that God is convicting you of, be it large or small? There is no sin so large that God cannot forgive it; and no sin so small that you can afford to keep it hidden.

"Personal revival begins when the believer faces his sin honestly. Though painful, only honest with God and others will enable the Christian to walk in purity and power." -Jim Elliot

What I've been sewing

I receive a deep sense of satisfaction when I see a line full of clean clothes gently blowing in the breeze. Part of that comes from the knowledge that the electric meter isn't spinning while they are drying. This fall my clothespin bag bit the dust. The poor thing had a tendency to get left out on the line in the beating sun and it finally dry rotted. Time to come up with a better option. I had some fabric (that I absolutely love) left over from another project and decided to put it to good use. This apron is simply one big pocket with the clothespins in the middle. It isn't very deep, so I have no problem reaching the ones in the bottom, and since it is worn, not hung like a bag, it doesn't get left outside. It must be the little things in life that make me happy.

The story behind the picture

I think I must be a visual person. There are several blogs with content that really speaks to me, but I tend to find myself frustrated when I'm reading them. I read old posts, click lots of links, always looking for something... It finally hit me, I really want to know what these people look like and they don't have any photos of themselves. I'm not the best with names, but I usually don't forget a face. After contemplating this for a few minutes, I had a DUH moment. Aren't I the pot calling the kettle black? I tend to run from cameras, duck behind other people, and generally avoid having my picture taken. I think I learned it from my mom. She was always hiding from the camera. When she passed away suddenly, I decided to make a picture collage for the memorial service. I had to search high and low to find a handful of prints that I could use. Anyway, I decided to start smiling and stop running. I don't want my children to someday regret that there aren't any photos of their mother, and even more so, I don't want them to pick up the habit from me. So, today, the camera and I had an appointment. I found a beautiful tree outside in the courtyard, turned the camera on myself, and smiled. Some looked fake, some only caught half of my face, and some of them were absolutely hilarious, just ask Emily. Finally, one popped up on the screen and Emily said "That's it." When I asked her why she said, "It just looks like you." So, there you have it. It was easy, painless, and even a little fun. And for any visual people out there, this is me: