Suddenly there was a man – a harried, agitated, almost crazed man – who tried to grab both the door handle and side mirror. It scared the daylights out of me. I sped up and watched in the rearview mirror as he chased my car. My husband was no longer in sight and all I could do was cry and keep driving.

Once he was out of sight, I finally decided to pray for the Lord to calm me and guide me home safely. As I prayed I felt a conviction that maybe I had jumped to conclusions, maybe he was in need of help.

The area he was in was mostly fields. The more I thought about it, the more I began to think that he may have been in his pajamas. My first reaction had been for my safety but maybe he was the one who had been in danger. I determined that once I got home I would call the police and tell them about the incident.

Fifteen minutes later I was standing in my kitchen telling my family my tale of woe. It was 2AM by that time and when I mentioned I felt I should call the police my husband said it might be better to wait until the morning. It was late and I was tired so I decided he was probably right and I headed off to bed.

In the morning, calling the police didn’t seem all that important. Things always seem scarier when it’s dark so really, maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. Later that day as I drove to the grocery store I noticed an increase in police presence in the same area I had been through the night before. My heart sank as I thought about what may have occurred all because I hadn’t gotten involved. What if that man had harmed another woman who had been on that road the night before? I didn’t have the guts to stop and ask.

We lived in a small town at that time and the local newspaper was weekly, so it drove me nuts as the days passed and I heard nothing of what was going on. And believe me something was definitely going on; police, firefighters and volunteers were always in sight as I drove around town. At one point, I witnessed about 50 people walking hand-in-hand through a field as if searching for a body. As each day passed I felt worse about not being obedient to the conviction I had felt that night about calling the police. Yet, I couldn’t get myself to rectify the situation.

I was probably the first person to purchase the newspaper on Friday when it came out and sadly the front page story told me everything I needed to know.

My conviction had been from the Holy Spirit and I had been very disobedient.

I cried as I read of a young, mentally challenged man who had gone missing from his parent’s home in the middle of the night. It had been five days of thirty degree temperatures at night and his parent’s believed he was only wearing his pajamas. The general thought was he had probably died from hypothermia and now they were just trying to find the body so the parents could find closure.

I sat in my car and prayed.

Lord God, please don’t let this be true. Lord, you are in complete control and nothing, not even raising the dead, is too hard for you. Don’t let this family suffer because I neglected to obey you. Please, please don’t take him from his family, don’t let them suffer because of my stupidity. I will obey you from now on, Lord. With your help and guidance I will obey you…

I prayed without ceasing for another two days. After hearing a news story on TV about a young man who had, against all odds, survived a week of freezing temperatures by crawling into an old stump, I stopped praying to God and started praising Him instead.

My husband and I had always believed in teaching this mild-mannered, deeply-caring individual the priority of obedience to authority and respect for his elders. Homeschooling our children for a time allowed us this focus. Obedience has always been stressed in raising each of our children because we firmly believe it sets the foundation for walking in obedience to God.

Yet, it took a legalistic Christian high school all of 3 months to convince him he was a bad kid. And he must have been because what good kid would allow himself to be caught in the hall with his shirt untucked from his pants or chew gum in class? Of course he deserved a full Saturday’s detention cleaning the school and paying ten dollars for the privilege of doing so. I mean his brazen defiance of these basic, fundamental rules must be punished, no?

NO!

I learned something years ago that has helped me immensely in raising boys. They are not horses and parents, especially mothers, should not start their training by breaking them first. I have tried my hardest to say yes to them as often as possible. If it wasn’t immoral, illegal or possibly deadly, I said yes. I believe boys who become real, Godly men need this type of freedom and grace to grow and mature.

There is a simple but important saying that this school would have done well to have known.

Rules are meant to guide and protect, not to oppress and control.

It’s the same with us as children of God and it is how He chooses to grow and mature us in His son. I’ve spent extended time in Galatians lately soaking up His truths. It is my sincere desire to live my freedom in Christ to His glory, never as an excuse for sin.

The law was put in place to lead us to Christ.

My humble explanation of this would be that once we are born-again through faith, we become children of His grace. Continuing to live under the law means I’m focusing on a list of things I should not do… yet as I keep my eyes on these Do Not’s I can’t help but do them.

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Galatians 3:10

Living under grace means I’ve been set free from the burden of the law. I now live and breathe through the Spirit by faith. Daily my faith should be expressing itself through love, love for God and others. I am given a list of things, amazing, wonderful things I can live out like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22) This is the list we should focus our eyes on.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Living our life by faith through the spirit is never about what we can’t do but what we can.

Our son finished the remaining three years at a Christian high school that is grace-filled and loving. He grew into quite a Godly man. He graduated at the top of his class, a youth leader in church yet believe it or not I still catch him now and again daring to walk around with his shirt untucked.

In your contact message you asked, “How do I become a humble person when it is in my nature to practice one-upmanship?”

I would like to start this response with a short disclaimer. I want to be able to answer your question and to be as helpful as possible. Yet any answer I could give you, on my own and with little background information, really wouldn’t be all that beneficial I fear. With this in mind, I have prayed the Lord would lead me to the appropriate scriptures, and guide me as well as you to His answer for your thought provoking question.

The first scripture that comes to mind is Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Why this one you might ask? Clearly this must be our starting point. I have no idea whether or not you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but this is always the starting point of becoming the humble person God desires us to be. There are many scriptures that tell us to humble ourselves but most have been written to those who have already humbly admitted their sinfulness and repented of those sins, accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as payment-in-full for our sin debt. By faith and faith alone, we become born-again or born from above as some like to say, thus becoming children of the one true living God.

When we become born-again, we can boldly declare along with Paul that we have been crucified with Christ and the old us, the one born with a sinful nature, no longer lives but now the divine nature of Jesus lives within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. So when you say that it is in your nature to practice one-upmanship, I need to question whether you still have your old sinful nature or you have allowed it to be nailed to cross along with Christ?

If you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, please do not believe the enemy’s lies that you still have a sinful nature and nothing can be done about it. We are commanded in 1 Peter 1:16 “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” and in 2 Peter 3:11 we are told, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness.” God only commands us to do what he has already equipped us to do. The Holy Spirit living within a believer makes him uniquely capable of humbling himself in any and all circumstances. We can boldly go to the throne of grace and ask God to help us to do this and each time we keep our mouths shut, accept undeserved poor treatment from someone, or refuse to demand our rights, it only makes it that much easier the next time.

How do we become a humble people? With prayer and self-discipline but first we must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. May the name of the Lord be praised forever.

When discussing such things as my home, wardrobe, car or most any material object, I would interject this saying, my motto. I had a nice life but I knew things could always be better and the “better” was what I wanted. Although I was a cheerful person I didn’t truly enjoy the stage I was in. I was constantly looking ahead to the future, planning for the time when life would be perfect.

And then I met Jesus and satisfaction soon followed. Quickly I realized that repeating that statement as a Christian reflected on the Lord I claimed to trust in and rely upon. That it seemed to sound as if God wasn’t enough or maybe His grace wasn’t sufficient. I banned it from my lips, which was no easy task. Slowly my motto slipped from my memory never to return again.

Or so I thought.

The other day, as I was taking clothes out of the dryer that looked like they could fit the Hulk, I began to wonder when my children got so big. Wasn’t it just a few years ago when I was needed to tie their shoes, kill the spider on their bedroom floor or turn the kitchen faucet on because it was just beyond their reach?

Now here they are, grown in size, driving, working, and constantly eating. It seems as though there just wasn’t enough time in between. Then it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, even though my motto hadn’t crossed my lips in years it still may have affected my mindset. There have been many times throughout these years of being at home with my children that I have failed to soak up all this particular stage of life had to offer. Rather than delight in my little ones and the trouble du jour, I wasted way too much time focusing on the future when life would be perfect. Looking towards my tomorrows, I have attempted to shape and mold what I was never in control of in the first place.

I revel in being a mother, I always have but time is what taught me that each stage of a child’s life is very temporary and very precious.

These days I reminisce fondly and even miss the years when I was wanted to wipe a nose or even a dirty derriere; when night after night and year after year one of my little ones  would crawl into bed with us only to keep me awake with their tossing and turning.

There was many a time that my husband and I would stay up late discussing the latest child rearing difficulty at hand. Seeing no light at the end of the tunnel we fell victim to the belief that there wasn’t one. But there was; His light was always there to guide us even when we didn’t know it.

Time is fleeting. Everything will, whether I want it to or not, eventually change. It has taken years but I finally realize that today, right now, is the perfection I’ve been chasing. And tomorrow will take care of itself.

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3

Read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians and you get a real sense that Paul considers the church in Thessalonica to be nearly a model congregation. In the verse of scripture above he mentions three things that confirm that they are true followers of Christ.

First he speaks of their work produced by faith. Faith always expresses itself in obedience to that which one believes. Our decisions, whether we realize it or not are always based on what we believe deep down, not just on what we say we believe. These Thessalonian’s actions proved to Paul, and to all the believers in Macedonian and Achaia for that matter, that their faith was solely in God.

When Paul goes on to say that they labored “prompted by love”, it seems to me that the Thessalonians listened to that still small voice that occasionally tells us to do things we really don’t feel like doing. You know what I’m talking about, the voice that says, “Jenny isn’t feeling well maybe I should watch her kids this afternoon?” or “Mark and Irene are really struggling this month maybe we should ask if they could use some help with the bills?” Sound familiar? It’s the voice that is so easy to argue with and sometimes even easier to ignore. The Thessalonians listened to the prompting and labored out of love. Sometimes their labor was out of love for others; more often than not it was simply their love for Jesus that encouraged their action.

Finally we read that they “endured” inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t know exactly what it is that they were enduring, we can only guess. They may have endured many of the same trials and sufferings we who are believers today endure. Friends and family members deserting us because of our beliefs, or maybe the loss of a loved one. Some may have lost jobs or income because of their new faith. The only thing we know for sure is that it was their firm confidence in Jesus and his promised return that gave them the strength to endure the trials or persecution, as it also must be with us.

Yes, Paul was very thankful for them. Their lives proved the awesome power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Read the chapter again and then as Warren Wiersbe points out in his Bible Commentary, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Are others thankful for me?
2. Is God’s power seen in my life?
3. Do I make it easier for others to talk about Jesus?

We tend to talk a lot.

Yes, WE. Quit thinking it’s all my fault.

Yesterday was no exception. The only thing different this time was the topic of discussion, community. Church community to be specific.

My friend, who’s been a believer far longer than I have and has probably seen far more changes within the church too, pointed out the lack of community she’s noticed. Her questions were, “Do I want something that no one else does? Am I strange?”

I quickly told her she wasn’t strange at all. But in just seconds I realized I might be wrong, she might actually be strange.

Think about it, if everyone in the church today wanted true community then we would have it.

But if people just pretended to want community and in all actuality wanted their private, personal lives to be separate from their church lives, well, we’d have exactly what we have in the church today. We’d have hugs, kisses and gracious hands shakes once or twice a week with little intimate knowledge of each other.

I wish everyone really wanted that feeling of community among the brethren.

I wish fellowship felt much more like family. And I mean the we’re-in-this-together-forever-type of family.

I wish she and I weren’t the strange ones.

His lessons have not been lost on me and I see God’s hand in each and every one. Our home, Julian’s job, car repairs, college tuition and so many more needs have been used to strengthen and grow our faith.  I can’t help but think it’s my fault. Maybe I prayed, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief,” one too many times. He answers prayers, you know, yet almost never in a way I would have imagined.

The most amazing thing to me is that in this last year I have seen God answer prayers that I sent up to Him literally over a decade ago. Prayers, if I’m being completely honest, that I had given up on. And just because He can, he said yes – finally.

Which just proves what a sweet lady from church recently told me.  She said that most of the time when God delays his answer to our prayers it’s His way of saying, “Wait.” Wait in God’s economy means yes but just not now. I’m seeing that lately and it too is growing my faith.

I’m also realizing how important it is to truly believe that God does have the power to do what He has promised. That when He says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer,” He really means it!

On one hand I have such fond memories of you. You were there for me when I truly needed you. You introduced me to new friends that I would never have met had you not had a hand in it. You kept me busy, too busy at times, but busy nonetheless when I felt lonely and useless. Blogging, you will always hold a special place in my heart.

Yet, on the other hand you tried desperately to take over my life when I didn’t think to keep you reigned in. My quiet times with the Lord morphed into online discussions. Things that God was attempting to teach me were now suddenly debatable. My poor children and all that they said and did became fodder for potentially millions of unknown readers.  By God’s grace the millions never appeared but the children felt used regardless.

Honestly, Blogging, I want to reunite. Really I do.  But is it possible for us to reconcile on my terms?

I’m older and wiser now and need to let you know that it’s my way or the highway.

The ball’s in your court…

I thought about the definition of the word Christian, which is “belonging to Christ.” I thought about Jesus as my Life, not just in my life. And finally I thought about the verse found in Galatians 2:20,

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

I know, I know, that’s probably way too much thinking for someone like me but rest assured no one, myself included, was hurt during this long, strenuous process. I’m sure the padded helmet helped tremendously.

Anyway, this morning my mind seemed to be headed into a new direction, or so I thought. I awoke thinking how foolish I was at times to seek after happiness, fulfillment, contentment, even godliness or righteousness. I thought about how many times I had heard different people witnessing to non-believers say that Christ could save them from hell, if they would just believe in him. Even worse, I had heard others say that they should believe in Jesus to find peace.

While all of the outcomes may be good, right, pure, and true, should we really be seeking the benefits above the benefactor? Should our goal be to have it all together, to be faultless? Is that what makes us a Christian? Should we be telling people to believe in Christ for the benefits it brings to their life? And if I’m seeking after these things rather than the one who provides them, is there anyway I can ever find them? I think not.

I’m sure many of us have, even if we don’t relish admitting it, flipped on TBN just in time to catch Benny Hinn or another word-of-faith teacher tell us to send in our seed money or our $1000 faith gift, “even if you can’t afford it, in fact especially if you can’t afford it.” Their reasoning is that God can not be out given so if we give, then God will have to give. The more we give then the more we get, and if we don’t have it’s because we haven’t given. It’s easy to see the discrepancy in their teaching versus the Word of God, they aren’t teaching obedience to His Word but rather seek the benefits, with their own little twists of the truth thrown in for good measure.

But how is seeking righteousness any different? Isn’t righteousness the outcome of a life surrendered to Christ, one that is laid down in sacrifice to the one who gave His all for us? If I truly no longer live, as Galatians says, but Christ lives in me, then wouldn’t Christ be doing the same today in me, as He did 2000 years ago? That is to say, wouldn’t He be about His Father’s business, living in complete obedience to God? So then the only thing I should be seeking is to allow Christ in me to be obedient to God’s Word.

There will come a day when each of us stands before the God of all creation and answers to Him for our life here on earth. Some will have nothing to say for themselves at all, they never believed, some even boldly denied, that the God of the Bible is the one true living God.

Then there will be those who claim the name of Jesus as their VIP pass into heaven, they’ll stand before God and say, “I believed in Jesus, I read the Bible, I went to church every Sunday, and I even put my children in Christian school.” Yet Jesus will have been standing there listening to them the whole time that they spoke and they will not recognize Him until they hear Him say, “I never knew you, depart from me…” And off they’ll go sporting the perfect do, the perfect education, maybe even the perfect reputation. As 2 Timothy 3:5 puts it,

“having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”
I don’t want to be found standing in either of these lines. I’d rather take the service elevator to my Savior’s throne and be cleaning the leather or polishing the jewels encrusted in it when this is going on.

When all is said and done, the fires of judgment will diminish, and only those things done by Jesus himself through me will remain to be rewarded. The rewards are not the benefit I seek but only to stand approved before God, and it is only Christ in me that can accomplish this goal. Christ in me the hope of glory!

Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him…” It seems silly to write an entire book concerning our purpose here on earth when it could so easily be summed up in just a few words – to glorify God. We were created for Him; only He knows each individual’s purpose. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to ask God what He would have us do to glorify Him?

In Revelation 4:11 we read, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” So here’s another reason that the Lord Almighty has created us – for His pleasure. But wait Hebrews 11:6 also says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Was this mentioned to all the non-believers looking for a purpose driven life? Was the Gospel clearly laid out to those who don’t know that the Lord Jesus Christ died for their sins and made it possible for them to be reconciled with God through faith in Jesus Christ? Without this life-giving information, it’s impossible for any one to know their true purpose and live it.

God wrote a book too and although it may be the number one best seller of all time, I don’t believe it’s the most read. Every time I search out wisdom from man on my life’s purpose, no matter how well known or how large their church has grown, it’s time taken away from what could have been direct communication with the God of the universe on the subject. I’m not opposed to reading anything other than the Bible but what we do read should always point us back to God’s Word.

I don’t need a purpose driven life. In the long run that simply makes this life all about me and that’s my natural, fleshly inclination anyway. What I need is a Bible-driven life, a life that is centered on and motivated by the Word of God. The Lord has so much He wants to tell us; won’t you let Him speak to you today through His Word?

Father God,
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Forgive me for looking to others for their advice and teachings on the purpose of my life. Your Word clearly tells me in Job 36:22 that no one can teach me as you can. I pray that from this moment on I will come to you and you alone for your wisdom. I pray that I would glorify you Lord for this is my heart’s desire.
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen