Incorruptable Beauty #2

Being clean, such a wonderful feeling!  Just as I need a clean face before I put my makeup on, so I need a clean heart to be able to serve my God.  If I want what I do to stand the test of time and eternity, than I must always remember to be living my life the way that God wants me to live. 
The way to being spiritually clean with God is repentance.  Repentance is one of those words that we don't hear too often anymore.  It seems that we make a lot of excuses for our sins and failings.  We seem to not want to admit that we are wrong.  It is pride that keeps us from repenting; but I think that it goes a bit deeper.  We, as women, have been trained from our babyhood that we need to be strong, beautiful, kind, pleasing, great housekeepers and cooks, awesome mothers, and sexy wives.  So often, we try so hard to be all of these things.  We try so hard that we begin to believe that it is only in doing/being perfect at them, that we are truly loved and wanted, and clean of sin.  We try so hard, that we can't imagine that we might be wrong, or in sin, or failing.  I don't know about you, but I can think this way; and I can believe that God wants me to be this way.......trying hard!  This is where the lie comes in.  To repent of something means that you are in agreement with God that what you have done, or failed to do, is wrong....according to God!  Not according to man, woman, society, friends, magazines, books, or myself!   God never, ever stops wanting us or loving us.  And, God never expects me to try hard! I am just supposed to obey from a heart of love. If I am looking at repentance from any other point of view than God's, I am wrong. 
I have discovered that if I want to live a life that is pleasing to God, than I must involve God in ALL of my decisions and in ALL that I do or don't do.  I must realize that my mind needs to change, what I think about myself needs to change!  For if my mind is changed my actions will follow.
I have come to realize that I put so much pressure on myself to be the 'Perfect Woman;' and I allow myself to be persuaded by this world or my friends as to what that 'perfection' looks like.

 

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

I belong to God. I was bought with a price and I do not belong to myself any longer.  If I believe this to be true, than my actions should follow.  Therefore, God is the One who gets to decide how I look, how I act, what kind of wife and mother I am to be, what find of friend I am to be.  He alone is to decide what kind of woman I am to be.  It is when I go outside of this truth that I find myself feeling discouraged, feeling guilty, and like a failure.

 

1 Corinthians 7:23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

As I begin my day my prayer should be one that seeks to please God and not self or others.  If I am pleasing to God than I'll be a woman who is godly; not perfect, but godly.
As I cleanse my face, in preparation for my make-up, I pray that my mind is cleansed as well.  I ask the Lord to remove any thoughts that are contrary to His word and to His will for my life.
As I wrote in my first post about this, dirt and oils clog our skin's pores and that produces blemishes.  If my heart is clogged with sin and selfishness, than sinful action occur.  The same holds true of my mind.  If I allow impure thoughts, ideas, desires, and needs to clutter up my mind, than I will not be allowing God to guide my day and it's decisions.   Don't get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to be pretty, wanting to be a good wife and mom, to be a godly servant friend.  But, it is wrong if we allow anything or anyone other than God to dictate to us how-to be this kind of woman. 

Romans 12:1–2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

(This is the second post of a series titled, Incorruptible Beauty.  Please ask permission before you copy or use any portion of this series.  Thank you) 

"The Proof"

As a pastor's wife, one of my most challenging areas of service is the area of loving those who are disloyal.  You know, those persons who love you and respect you, as long as you don't cross them, or you don't have to tell them the truth.  Or the ones that you thought had it "all together," but really, they didn't.  Even those who taught the word with boldness and yet, they find it easy to disregard God's word so that they can feel justified in what they are doing! 
I have once again been reminded that true love is an action and not a feeling.  Jesus took our griefs and our sorrows upon Himself.  He took our sins and our failings, our self-righteousness and hate; and He bore those horrible things on His body as He died on a tree....for me.  Jesus, I'm sure, did not feel like going to the cross; in fact, He prayed that the Father would "Take this cup from Me......."  Feelings don't have much to do with true love.  Feelings are a part of love and feelings can come as we love, but true love gives despite feelings!  True love says, "Not My will, but Yours be done."  Jesus' death was the proof of His love for me!!  It was by this very action that I now live this "abundant life."
God has given to me life, abundant life.  How I choose to spend the minutes, hours, and days of this life, prove/show my love for the Farther; but in the living, I must die.

"Time For Lunch!"

The miracle of the Loaves and Fish has been on my heart lately.  Here in this story, Jesus and the disciples were on their way to having a time of rest, a bit of a vacation.  But the multitudes followed them.  The Bible tells us that the day was turning to night, and that Jesus had compassion on the crowd of people, for He knew that they were hungry. As Jesus looks at the crowd, He sees an opportunity to serve them, but also our Lord takes the time to teach the disciples another lesson.....a lesson about our God's love and care of people.  Jesus could have just let the people return home for their supper.  He could have let the disciples have a bit of a rest; in fact,wasn't that was what was supposed to be happening?  But our Lord never passes up on an opportunity to love on people. And, He wants us to do the same. 
As Jesus asks the disciples to "feed the crowd" the disciples are taken aback by this request. And I can understand why!!  I can almost see their faces.  Their mouths' drop open, eyes widen, and then the spoken words of, "Where are we going to get that much food?"  Jesus asks, "How much food do you have?"  "Only this boys' lunch," they answer back.  So Jesus tells the disciples to tell the crowd to sit down!  What??  Just, "Sit down?"  No, "Tell them to go home," or "Tell them to go and get themselves some dinner and come back tomorrow?"  Nope, just sit down.  Then Jesus takes the few loaves and the fish and makes into them.....a great feast!  There was enough for all!  And not only that, there were 12 baskets of leftovers too! 
The Lord was showing that He had power over creation, but I believe more importantly, He was showing the disciples (and me) that He will give to me all that I need so that I may give to others!!  There will be no lack!  We have heard it said, "Where God guides, He provides," and this story proves that fact.
God wants it ALL.......everything!!  There can be no holding back. When He calls, there can be no, "But I need my rest," or "I need time to myself."  Now rest and relaxing aren't bad or wrong.  But, I need to be willing to give of these to my Jesus when He asks for them!! What if the young boy had wanted to keep his little lunch to himself?  He could have, for it belonged to him. I too, can keep my "little bit," but that is all I will have, a "little bit." 
Jesus asks us to bring what we have.....and to bring all that we have.  It may be a lot or it may be a little. The choice is ours.  I can keep my "meager loaves and fish," and feed myself.....and maybe a few others.  Or I can give my "little lunch" to the Lord and let Him bless it, break it, and feed many.....myself included!!

 

The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.  Psalm 34:10

Unless the Lord.......

A while back, one of my grand kids asked me if I had a photo of the house that I grew up in. At that time, I didn't.  I don't know why I never took a photo of it.  I guess I always thought that I would go back home, and see it with my own eyes.  Recently a friend from home was able to take a few snapshots of my childhood house for me.  Now I have something to show my grand children.  The house doesn't look as it did when I was a child, in fact it looks quite sad and run down. While I was growing up, my dad was good at keeping up with home repairs.  He made sure that the paint was freshened every five years or so.  He made sure that the trees were trimmed, and that the fence did what a fence should do.....keep the kids in the yard and keep strangers out.
As I was looking at the photos it struck me that everything in life can fall to disrepair if we are not constantly maintaining it.  And this holds true with my life......with all areas of my life.  My marriage, my friendships, my work, my physical health, and the most important, my relationship with God.  As I looked at that run down house and yard, I was reminded again of how easy it is to let "things go." I get so busy with life, with doing my own thing, that I forget to maintain those things that are so very important.  If I leave a hole in the roof of my house, then the roof will leak and after a while, it will fall down.  If I don't sand and repaint the peeling paint around my home's window frames then moisture and bugs can get into the wood, and they will rot away to nothing.  If we don't expend the effort to trim our trees, and mow our yard.....well, you get the point.  The same holds true for my spiritual life and for my relationships.  I need to expend the energy, and take the time, to maintain them!  This means that I need to be aware of "peeling paint and rotten roofs."  I need to be asking the Lord if all is well with us, if all is well with my marriage and with my other relationships. I have learned that it takes more work to rebuild, than to repair and maintain.  So, I am asking for Him to show me the "leaks and the peeling paint," so that I can be a good steward of the good things that He has entrusted to me.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain....."
Psalm 127:1

Words to Live By

God spoke........
It was so.......
And, it was good!
Got it?