Just Say Yes

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

~Luke 1:34-38~

For nothing will be impossible with God.

This was the extent of the explanation given to Mary in her confusion during the annunciation. Yet, that was all that she needed; her faith was strong and her obedience to God stronger still. 

How often do we have that kind of strength? How many times have we opted out of things because we were unsure of exactly how we would do them?

Mary didn't need the intricate details or all of the specifics of how; she just said yes. Just the same, we don't need all the answers now. We don't need to know exactly how means will be provided; we just need to say yes.

The biggest thing that keeps us from saying yes if fear. Fear is sneaky, it is often masked as rationality, though it is quite the opposite.

I really like the movie "Yes Man". This is not simply because it is funny and features the adorable Zooey Deschanel. I like it because it reveals something about what we call "rational" living and decision making. 

So many of us live with that parental voice in our heads that tells us to assess all of the possible outcomes and to make responsible decisions. Of course we should be responsible stewards of our lives, however I believe some of us have taken this idea of responsibility to a tragic extreme. 

I say tragic because in our struggles to be responsible we often miss or ignore God's calls. He entrusted us with our lives not to maintain descent reputations, gather up nest eggs, and avoid as much struggle as possible. He entrusted these lives to be lived for Him. To entrust is not merely to give away, but to give with expectations of return. 

The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 shows us that it is not the one who, in fear, plays it safe, but those who take risks that receive large returns. 

If God were to send His angel to you today and ask something risky of you, would you say "yes" in faithful obedience or "well, I don't know..." in fear?

If you are leaning toward the latter, now is the perfect time to let loose your fears and lean strong on the promises of God. This Christmas, give the gift of yes to the LORD!

Don't be a "NO MAN!, NO MAN!, NO MAN!" Be a "YES MAN!" (or woman...)

A Spirit of Thankfulness

Give thanks in all circumstances; for that is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.            

~1 Thessalonians 5:18~

In the spirit of thanksgiving I felt it appropriate to write on something for which I am thankful.

We often hear comments about the modern church that are far from positive. Many of those comments involve the up-and-coming leaders of the church, the young adults.

There is a lot of buzz about post-modernism and the claims that 'all is relative'. Much claims are being thrown around that young people are not concerned about truth; that they do not believe it can be found or that it even truly exists.

About a week ago I officially became the new teacher/leader of the Young Adult Sunday School class at my church. I am thankful for this opportunity to discuss with this important group of people God's Word and its relevance to contemporary society.

Amongst the current claims to postmodernism, it was incredibly refreshing to hear during our first session that our Church's next leaders do believe there are answers to their questions and that they want to find them! I am thankful that my brothers and sisters in Christ shine a light of  hope in a seemingly hopeless group of people. 

Though society may tell young adults that no answers can truly be found, and though they are nearly indoctrinated to agree, deep down they want to believe they can find truth. They simply need to be encouraged to seek it out. 

It would be incredibly easy to focus on the things that are wrong with the church and dwell in that place of believing that the next generation is far worse than the last. Believe me, I am no stranger to pointing a finger. However, it is much more productive to recognize the wrong but then be thankful for promising aspects and use those to work toward the right.

Often our thoughts and our prayers to God are about what we do not have; about all of the wrongs in our lives. Why not look at what we do have; at all that is right? Once you look, you'll be sure to find an over-abundance of blessings God has bestowed upon your life.

All it took was a closer look and a willingness to listen to notice an immense amount of promising features in this group of young adults. I am thankful that God granted me the eyes to see and the ears to hear and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing many more great things from this group.

So, look closer...What are you thankful for today?

Strength in Waiting

I hate waiting. I am more of an "if you want it go and get it", "there's a problem to be solved, let's solve it" kind of gal. 

Uncertainty is uncomfortable. 

I like it when I can make things happen; when I have a sense of control in a situation. Whenever I have had questions, I have searched for answers. Whenever I have wanted something, I have worked hard to get it, even if it meant making myself sick with stress and exhaustion.

In defense of my, at times, loon-ish behavior, I was not raised in a world that truly values patience. Yes, we all say things like, "be patient" and "don't force it", but in our next breath we spout motivational gems like, "if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself" and "you gotta grab the bull by the horns!" 

I do not want to say that there are not times that we do need to step out on our own and take action. What I do want to say is that it is against our betterment to believe that it is solely by our own power that things will ever come to pass.

I praise the LORD that He is breaking me of that false notion.

Psalm 27 has been a signature Scripture in my Christian journey. It has guided me through various struggles, aided me in my hopeful praises, and taught me (time and time again!) a valuable lesson: the importance of waiting on the LORD.

The words "Wait for the LORD" are written numerous times in the Bible. If you were to look in one of my Bibles you would see, quite possibly, every passage in which they are used underlined. One thing I noticed in all of my reading and underlining is that God's people are not simply told to wait on Him and left to it; it is acknowledged that this is not an easy act.

In many passages with these words, before or after them are words such as, "Be strong, and let your heart take courage" (Psalm 27:14 & 31:24). This says to me that in order to wait on God we must also rely on a strength that comes from Him.

It is strong and courageous to wait on the LORD.

It takes more heart to trust in God's promises than it does to push forward and rely on your own strength. I realized that my strong desire to take life into my own hands was an outward expression of insufficient trust in God and His promises.  

Doing things by my own strength always left me not only physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally exhausted as well. "But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength," says Isaiah; "they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (40:31).

"Wait on the LORD" does not mean wait for the LORD to come and take care of everything or do everything for you; it means do not be rash and impatiently rush into things. We must wait on the LORD in order to hear what He has planned and how He wants us to act, according to His will, not our own. 

The more you wait, the more you see that His way is always better.

So, I'm with Micah: "as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation" (7:7). For, "the LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25).

How about you? Do you believe you know what is best for your life or do you trust that God has something even better in store for you? Are you willing to wait on Him?

Faith & Dissonance

Recently I was having a discussion with a loved one about God. Much of the discussion was me answering questions about the logistics of the writing and assembling of the Bible. It was at this time that I came back to a truth that many an evangelist struggles with: the understanding that those who have (seemingly) intellectual problems with Christianity do not hand their lives (assuming they ever do) over to Christ for intellectual reasons. 

Conversion is not the work of a Christian Apologist, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. 

Intellectual (or emotional) struggles, like those of my loved one, very often are a result of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the term used to describe the discomfort one experiences when he or she holds two conflicting (or seemingly conflicting) beliefs simultaneously. Often such dissonance is a result of a resistance to succumbing to a God-centered faith and being.

I have always been a Romantic, full of passion. Yet, at the same time I have always been a very systematic and logical thinker. I dreamed big, but always seemed to be immersed in rejection, struggles, and suffering.  The 'two hemispheres' of my mind (as C.S. Lewis called it) were often in conflict. I was so consumed with thoughts of how I caused or affected the things around me that I could not see that the passions I felt actually complemented the rational nature of my mind.

My hubris was in the way of my dreams and heart.

Our hopes and desires can cause us to be blinded to answers or resolutions that present themselves. Wants do not involve merely an outcome, but usually a means to the outcome as well. So, in desiring, we do not simply look for the object of our desire, but are expecting to come to it in a specific way. When our thoughts are directed to something specific we develop a tunneled vision in which it is difficult to see or believe anything that does not fit perfectly into our perceptions. The answers may come, but because we are asking the wrong questions, they go unrecognized or are rejected. 

Lewis said that "each of us by nature sees the whole world from one point of view with a perspective and a selectiveness peculiar to himself. And even when we build disinterested fantasies they are saturated with, and limited by, our own psychology."

Often we experience dissonance because we think that if we believe one part (or the whole) of a thing, we must accept all of its parts. This is simply false. To enjoy fantasy does not mean we must believe we can find truth in it. To experience rejection does not mean that I must believe that all that contributes to it is a reflection of my worth. To believe in the positive contribution of science and philosophy does not mean that we have to believe everything that scientists and philosophers tell us.

To hold to reason does not mean that we must trust solely in Reason or rational thought processes as a means to understanding. 

Cognitive dissonance is simply one of the many fruitions of self-centeredness: the thing that best keeps us from complete submission to God. It is true that we were created with a self-reflective nature. But, another important truth is that we were created: we are not the beginning and end of thought. Therefore, we cannot expect to find all of the answers that we seek and solve all of the problems that we face strictly by searching within our own minds.

Cognitive dissonance is encouraged by constantly focusing inward and neglecting to look upward. The world  does not make sense if man is at the center. We must reconcile our position in God's plan before we can reconcile the apparent contradictions in our beliefs.

The way that we do this is by being open to the Holy Spirit and asking Him to work in us. 

The question is, do you want the Way, the Truth, and the Life or do you simply want to find a way to live your life?

Pêcheurs & Pécheurs

Two words:  pêcheurs  and  pécheurs. They are separated on paper merely by une petite accent (aigu ou circumflexe) but separated in thought by vast spiritual connotations.

When reading my Sainte Bible the other morning a simple misread of une petite accent caused me much confusion and prompted me to look deeper into the text as well as my heart and mind...

Un  pêcheur  is a fisherman, while un  pécheur is a sinner. Imagine my bewilderment when I read "Blessed is the man...who does not stop on the way of  pécheurs (sinners) " as "Blessed is the man...who does not stop on the way of  pêcheurs (fishermen)."

It can be quite shocking how easily one falls into sin. Each and every human being has an incredible capacity for righteousness yet, also the capability to commit atrocious acts. The line between pêcheurs and pécheurs is thin. Though the line is thin it is loaded with importance; the side on which one ends up determines his or her place for eternity. The difference between pêcheurs and pécheurs [To clarify, when I speak of a sinner I mean one who lives his or her life in sin, not simply one who sins; for even fishers of men (still being men after all) sin.] is that one is led by the Spirit of Truth and the other by the spirit of lies. 

Now, I am not suggesting that the closeness of these words is in itself the basis of certain theological implications nor am I attempting to base an entire theological argument on the fact that these two words are so similar in form. I am simply relating this linguistic truth as an imagery to theological and spiritual truths.

While the two words on paper are separated by une petite accent aigu ou circumflexe, the two titles in life are separated by a simple decision to follow the will of self or the will of God. Though simple, this decision is not necessarily easy. Human beings, in our fallen state, are hard wired to be self-seeking. Especially in contemporary society, where we are raised up believing that we hold the control over our lives and our fate, it is difficult to make the active choice to succumb to the will of a person or being other than ourselves. Even in recognizing this difficulty it can be seen that once we realize this about ourselves and become aware of the dissonance between self-centered living and the world around us, there is a sort of ease in letting go and allowing God to reveal Himself in our lives. 

There are no pecheurs (literally, the word does not exist) only pêcheurs and pécheurs. A decision must be made: will you make the decision to live in accordance to God's will and be led by the Spirit of Truth or will you decide to live by self-will and be led by the spirit of lies? It may sound harsh to some (possibly most), but there is no in between; living on the fence is no way to live. 

So, what is it, are you a pêcheur or a pécheur?