This week I have been reading Max Lucado’s The Great House of God.  He unpacks a passage from Isaiah 55:8-9 in a way that really spoke to me.  Here is the passage and Lucado’s thoughts on it:

“My thoughts are not like your thoughts.  Your ways are not like my ways.  Just as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  Isa. 55:8-9

Make special note of the word like.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are they even like ours.  We aren’t even in the same neighbourhood.  We’re thinking, ‘Preserve the body; he’s thinking, Save the soul.  We dream of a pay raise.  He dreams of raising the dead.  We avoid pain and seek peace.  God uses pain to bring peace.  “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve.  “Die, so you can live,” he instructs.  We love what rusts.  He loves what endures.  We rejoice at our successes.  He rejoices at our confessions.  We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like Mike.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ.”

What a great reminder this is for all of us today.  Let’s live like we believe it!

Michelle

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Jay and I started watching the show Prison Break a while ago, and finished all four seasons within a few months.  As I was watching one of the early episodes, I was alerted to something that I did not realize was in my heart.  As we got to know some of the characters, I began to hate one with a passion: T-Bag. He was in prison for raping and murdering children, an he was truly a disgusting character the whole way through.  At one point in the show, I remember filling with anger and thinking “even Jesus cannot save this man.”  I didn’t want people like him to ever experience the grace and forgiveness of Christ.

When we were driving to the movie store later that night, I burst into tears and told Jay what I had thought.  I had doubted the power of the Cross and completely denied the power that Jesus holds to redeem the lives of the ugliest sinners.  Even child molesters.

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I am passionate about the fight to end sex trafficking.  I realized that men who traffic women and sell them into a life of rape are just like T-Bag: the ugliest of sinners.  Yet I can’t let hatred for traffickers overtake my life, because Jesus died for them as well.  That is such a hard pill for me to swallow.  Yes, traffickers and child molesters deserve punishment for their actions. Sin always has consequences. But we must believe that Jesus Christ has the power to redeem even them.  The same eternal life that is available to us is available to them…if they choose Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.

Who have you written off as unforgivable?  Let us repent of our unbelief and remember the earth shattering power of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Michelle

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Four years ago I spent seven weeks doing missions work in Turkey. During my time there, I took a tour of Ephesus - a New Testament Historical site- where I saw the statue pictured above. Her name is ‘Diana’ (also known as Artemis,) the great goddess of fertility. Temples were built in her honor. Riots were formed in her defence. Somehow she captivated the hearts of the people and caused a lot of drama amongst the early Christians in Ephesus. (Acts 19)

Walking down the streets amongst the ruins and rubble of what was once a thriving city, I could easily pick out what these people once lived for: Diana. She was their idol.

Throughout the Bible, we are warned and commanded to stay away from idols. Sure as Christians in North America we are not faced with this sort of idolatry. We don’t wake up every morning and bow to a statue. Unfortunately, our idols are much more discrete… and often masquerade themselves so that we don`t realize they are there.

An idol- defined simply- is anything that takes top priority in our lives. They are the things we give most of our time to, spend most of our money on, and think about most often . It usually starts out as something good, but then we take it to the extreme,- devoting ourselves to it and somehow allowing it to define who we are. It could be a relationship, job, hobby, education, etc.

I think it’s safe to say we all have something we idolize in our lives. It’s time to find out what they are, get rid of them, and give Christ the  top priority He deserves.

Jess

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I received an email from Rebekah Hoefnagels last week.  This is what it said…

Hey Jay, I was on your website today and I found it very interesting. I am passionate about the way women treat others and get treated negatively in our culture. I am not a feminist but I think that girls too often get sucked into false things (reality tv shows, clothing, popularity etc).

This is something I wrote a bit ago, that you haven’t touched on (from what I could see) on the website that I think should be addressed. it’s just an idea, pull ideas from it if you like and write something more relevant to the website. and Beware: It’s just a bunch of random thoughts thrown together.

Which is great, because this entire website is just a bunch of random thoughts thrown together!  As you can see, Rebekah is passionate that women learn to live right.  Which makes me very happy.  Check out her thoughts below…

This is Rebekah.

Don’t you love getting told that you are beautiful?

That you made a difference in someone’s life?

That you are funny?

We all know that sometimes a comment can either brighten our day or ruin it. So why is it that we continue to judge people and comment about their lives that we really don’t know anything about?

Yes a girl may have done something mean to you but that doesn’t mean you should go and tell others that she is a terrible person. A girl may not be up on the latest fashion trends but that doesn’t mean that she is out of touch with reality and won’t be hurt when you make fun of her clothes. And even if we don’t cut people down we still don’t go out of our way to encourage them.

For some reason subconsciously we think that if we tell someone they did a good job or look nice or are funny then that means they are better then us. We want to be at the top, the best in hopes of increasing our self-esteem. But all this competition just hurts us. Instead of having a group of close friends you will have a group of girls you are competing against so you don’t tell them your fears, struggles, and weaknesses.

When you truly believe that “you are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and that your identity lies in Christ (not in the clothes you own, the friends you have, the sports you play), encouraging others will come easily.

As females we need to come together and lift each other up. Too often in the media we get told to look a certain way, have certain interests, and date a lot to be confident. But our confidence comes from Christ. If we expect guys to treat us with respect we need to start treating each other with respect.

And if we don’t get treated with respect, don’t turn around and talk about it to someone else, forgive. “May we understand that forgiveness doesn’t justify the other person’s actions; instead, it makes us free.” I challenge you go against the flow and encourage those around you.

Rebekah

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Hi Friends!  This week has been insane with mid-terms, work and starting into term papers…sometimes I wonder if I’m living through it, or just kind of floating along on top while someone else lives my life!  Here’s what I’ve been chewing on this week.

Accountability…do you have it in your life?  If not, find some!  Last semester, I allowed busyness to exclude several mentors and close friends from my life.  It was hands down one of the worst semesters of my life, as far as spiritual growth goes.   This semester, I made it one of my new year’s resolutions that not only was I going to prioritize time for those people to be in my life, but I was also going to choose two or three of them to be completely and totally honest with in every area of my life.

As I have allowed myself to spend quality time with these ladies and share openly with them, I have found that three main benefits have come out of it.

1.   Our relationships are deeper. As ladies of all ages often express a lack of community to me and how much they miss it, I have come to realize how beautiful and enriching it is to have true community.  Not just ladies to drink tea with, but ladies to share LIFE with.

2.    There has been healing in my life. Often times when events of the past hurt us, we go cover the pain and repress the memories so that we don’t have to deal with it.  I was walking through life thinking I had dealt with most of the issues of the past and yet as I started talking to my “big sister”  she was able to point out behaviors and beliefs in my life that are still very much a result of past hurts.  I’ll never forget her telling me that my life is very much like a chronic illness (and I think this can be said of all of us), we walk around in pain…but the more pain we are in, the less we recognize it and the more we just accept it.  It is only when true healing comes that we are fully aware of how much the pain was holding us back.

3.    Though the temptation to sin still pops up on a daily basis, I find that it is much easier to resist it. It doesn’t mean that I’m perfect now, or that I no longer sin.  However, knowing that I am going be talking with someone I love about my actions has stopped me from a lot of wrong.  Whether it is thoughts, entering relationships I shouldn’t be in, or that little white lie.  It’s hard to confess our sin to one another and no one wants to confess more than absolutely necessary!!!

So where are you at?  Who is there that you can have a completely open relationship in order that you might grow and find freedom in your walk with Christ?

Andrea

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