Nancy Wilson's Blog, page 27

February 26: Colossians 3:16-17

 ”Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

This is such a wonderful passage, and it fully warrants about ten separate devotionals. But the reason that it occurred to me to use this one is that this topic has been on my mind a bit lately. Aside from Christians accusing each other of judging, the accusation of legalism has got to be one of the top insults that gets bandied about.

Whenever anyone makes any kind of a claim that they base in the word of God somehow, there will be offended Christians. You are adding to the word of God! You are making up laws! How dare you, you legalist!! Boooo! Booooo!

But there is a huge chasm between legalism and application. God expects us, and commands us to apply His word to our lives. In this passage, which is talking about the life of the body, it is telling us to apply it to each other in wisdom. Let it dwell among you richly. It communicates a sort of intense marinade. Let it seep in and cover you up. Be lost in it.  When a dry spot comes up, there should be no question as to what to put on it. We are people who have a lot of principles to apply, and our desire should be to apply it thick. Let the word of God dwell in you richly.

My Dad is fond of saying that your theology comes out your fingertips. Whatever we are doing, we are showing what we think of God. We are showing what we believe. When we act like God has no thoughts about our specific behavior, we are believing a lie about Him. When we act like another Christian thinking anything of our behavior is a direct insult to God’s law, we are lying about Him.

One Christian will say, “I don’t think you should be watching Real Housewives – it isn’t very edifying.” And the cry will go up that a legalist has been found. The difference between legalism and application is that legalism pretends that God’s law said directly “Thou shalt not watch a show about adulterous women with breast implants.” Application would say “What are you doing? This is stupid.”

Legalism is a real threat in our lives, but it comes from a misunderstanding of the nature of God’s law. God’s law is not something to achieve, it is something to dwell in. When someone quotes Titus 2 to buoy up their new program ” Storing Dry Goods God’s Way,” which is sold in a set with the required tupperware, it is safe to say that legalism is in play.  A legalist might tell you that real Christians shop for groceries once a week, because there is only one way to do it that honors God, and no arguing about it. Legalists know which style of penmanship God wants you  to teach your children. Legalists shouldn’t have to be explaining this chore chart to you because it clearly came down from Heaven on Mt. Sinai, which you would know if you had read your Bible.

Legalism is summed up in Matthew 23 (roughly translated) as ” You ninnies! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!” Straining out a disorderly countertop and swallowing porn in secret. Straining out less wholesome food and swallowing bitterness. Straining out the possibility that  something bad might happen, ignoring the hideous thing that is currently happening. Straining out birthing practices you dislike and swallowing disrespecting your husbands.

Lawlessness on the other hand is simply eating the camel garnished in gnats. Crunchy little gnats baked in whatever current trends are afoot. Little gnats of being entertained by sodomy. Little gnats of listening to the world but ignoring your pastor. Little gnats of dressing provocatively. Little gnats of being pompous. Little gnats of ill will towards the saints.

Here’s the deal. We aren’t supposed to be eating the camel or the gnats. The law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. He gave us His body to eat. This is our food.  This is what we can not strain and ought not try to. The body and blood of our Lord and Savior is sufficient. Let that dwell in you richly.

 

 

 

 

February 25: Healing

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

This short prayer comprehends the nature and power of God; it sums up the way things stand between us and God. Do we need healing? Do we need salvation? Only the Lord can heal and save. And when He acts, it is done. This is an un-embellished prayer, a cry of faith, simply expressed. We all need healing and salvation. We need healing from sin and back sliding, healing from hurts and griefs and wrongs, physical and emotional and spiritual healing. God has the power and authority to heal, and He brings comfort and peace to His people. He does not heal the wound lightly.

“For thou art my praise.” God does not just inhabit the praises of His people, He is their praise. Matthew Henry says this: “and for that reason I desire to be healed and saved, that I may live and praise thee. Thou art he whom I praise, and the praise due to thee I never gave to another. Thou are he whom I glory in, and boast of, for on thee do I depend.”

Jesus invites us to come to Him for healing and salvation. He never turns anyone away. Sometimes we cannot express our need for healing and our longing to be saved. We think that we need to have some good suggestions for God so that He will figure out what to do. But God doesn’t need us to spell it all out. We don’t even understand all the ins and outs of our need for healing. We simply must cry out to Him. “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”

Grandmother Appreciation Project Week

So here’s the mania that’s been happening around here the last few days. Nana (my mom) had a big blank wall that needed something on it . . . and I thought a painting of a lot of cold and moody birds would be just the ticket. Can you guess from the painting what the weather has been like in Idaho this week?

But at the same time, Granny (Ben’s mom) is getting ready for her Kindergarten class to put on a very dramatic performance of “The Empty Pot” on Friday. They needed props. So yesterday we whizzed up a lot of rhinormous and very eccentric crepe paper flowers. They help us to forget what the weather has been like in Idaho last week.

 

Don’t Blink!

Remember this cute little sweater I knit for Shadrach?

Well it turned into something more like this (through no fault of it’s own):

And since sweater weather isn’t exactly over yet in Northern Idaho, I had to knit him a new one. I really prefer breathable wool for smooshing into carseats – with a hat and a good blanket they are more than warm enough, but don’t get all sweaty in transit.  I was in a hurry this time and thought I better use some yarn from the stash (I’ll have to tell you about that sometime). Ended up making quite the wild sweater – but it is big enough and warm enough. And the baby inside it just kills me more and more every day.

His Daddy was really pleased that the first one, worn in Fall, channeled the Chicago Bears. This one clearly is channeling the Cubs, right? With all the wooden button/ bat symbolism in play? We are just saying yes, it was totally on purpose. Of course it was.

February 23: Psalm 37:1

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”

I love this verse. And not merely because of the fantastic phrase, “fret not thyself.” I love it because it’s one of those verses that really pegs it, sums it up, and pins the tail on the donkey.

The thing that’s so noticeable here is that we are told not to do two things.

1. Don’t fret over evildoers.

2. Don’t be envious of them.

But don’t those two things seem like opposites? We tend to picture the person wringing their hands and fretting over evildoers as being in one camp, and the person who is envious of evildoers over on the totally other side of the road. Isn’t it a bit weird that David treats those two issues like two sides of the same coin? But there is a whole wealth of wisdom in this.

Lots of times we cover our own envy with a thin frosting of faux righteous indignation. It may fool our friends, relations, and even ourselves, but it doesn’t fool God.

Have you ever gotten really wound up about another woman’s immodest outfit? Really fired up and indignant over the outrage to God and country that she was perpetrating? If you stop and think about it for a minute, was it perhaps because deep down you actually kinda wish that you could look like that, dress like that, or turn heads like that? And are you maybe channeling that envy into indignance about her sin . . . which handily covers up your own sin and has the added benefit of making you look like you have a real zeal for godliness? This verse has two things to say to you. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, and neither be thou envious.

Has your daughter ever told you about all the terrible catty gossipy meanies at school who are sinning up a storm? Or about the other girls who are terrible flirts? Teach her how to not fret over evildoers, and at the same time teach her to search her own heart for envy.

You know that awful smell you get in the kitchen when a dishrag has gone sour? Let’s say you walk into the kitchen and catch a whiff of it. Obviously, your first move is to start hunting around and figure out where that rag is so that you can deal with it. If it didn’t happen to be sitting in plain sight on the sink, you would institute a thorough investigation. You wouldn’t be content with the fact that you glanced into the sink and didn’t see anything obviously causing the smell. You would leave no stone unturned, right? The same should be true when you feel a rising indignance over someone else’s sin. That’s the whiff of sour . . . and it’s a clue that there is a dishrag of envy lurking somewhere in your heart. Stop and pray, and ask God to help you find it wherever it is so that you can deal with it.

Obviously, I’m not saying there’s no such thing as righteous anger. But even with righteous anger, we’re told not to let the sun go down on it. Righteous anger is like manna – it can rot overnight and start to grow worms. And faux righteous anger . . . well it’s wormy to begin with.

The other thing to notice is that this verse isn’t denying the existence of evildoers. It’s not saying, “Stop worrying about them because they’re not that bad.” No, they’re genuine evildoers. They are, in actual fact, sinning up a storm. God will judge it. Immodest outfits, cattiness, gossip, all of it. But fret not thyself. Don’t get wound up. And if you are fretting thyself . . . look in your own heart for envy.

Psalm 37:1 – February 23

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”

I love this verse. And not merely because of the fantastic phrase, “fret not thyself.” I love it because it’s one of those verses that really pegs it, sums it up, and pins the tail on the donkey.

The thing that’s so noticeable here is that we are told not to do two things.

1. Don’t fret over evildoers.

2. Don’t be envious of them.

But don’t those two things seem like opposites? We tend to picture the person wringing their hands and fretting over evildoers as being in one camp, and the person who is envious of evildoers over on the totally other side of the road. Isn’t it a bit weird that David treats those two issues like two sides of the same coin? But there is a whole wealth of wisdom in this.

Lots of times we cover our own envy with a thin frosting of faux righteous indignation. It may fool our friends, relations, and even ourselves, but it doesn’t fool God.

Have you ever gotten really wound up about another woman’s immodest outfit? Really fired up and indignant over the outrage to God and country that she was perpetrating? If you stop and think about it for a minute, was it perhaps because deep down you actually kinda wish that you could look like that, dress like that, or turn heads like that? And are you maybe channeling that envy into indignance about her sin . . . which handily covers up your own sin and has the added benefit of making you look like you have a real zeal for godliness? This verse has two things to say to you. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, and neither be thou envious.

Has your daughter ever told you about all the terrible catty gossipy meanies at school who are sinning up a storm? Or about the other girls who are terrible flirts? Teach her how to not fret over evildoers, and at the same time teach her to search her own heart for envy.

You know that awful smell you get in the kitchen when a dishrag has gone sour? Let’s say you walk into the kitchen and catch a whiff of it. Obviously, your first move is to start hunting around and figure out where that rag is so that you can deal with it. If it didn’t happen to be sitting in plain sight on the sink, you would institute a thorough investigation. You wouldn’t be content with the fact that you glanced into the sink and didn’t see anything obviously causing the smell. You would leave no stone unturned, right? The same should be true when you feel a rising indignance over someone else’s sin. That’s the whiff of sour . . . and it’s a clue that there is a dishrag of envy lurking somewhere in your heart. Stop and pray, and ask God to help you find it wherever it is so that you can deal with it.

Obviously, I’m not saying there’s no such thing as righteous anger. But even with righteous anger, we’re told not to let the sun go down on it. Righteous anger is like manna – it can rot overnight and start to grow worms. And faux righteous anger . . . well it’s wormy to begin with.

The other thing to notice is that this verse isn’t denying the existence of evildoers. It’s not saying, “Stop worrying about them because they’re not that bad.” No, they’re genuine evildoers. They’re sinning up a storm. God will judge it. Immodest outfits, cattiness, gossip, all of it. But fret not thyself. Don’t get wound up. And if you are fretting thyself . . . look in your own heart for envy.

February 23: Healing

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

This short prayer comprehends the nature and power of God; it sums up the way things stand between us and God. Do we need healing? Do we need salvation? Only the Lord can heal and save. And when He acts, it is done. This is an un-embellished prayer, a cry of faith, simply expressed. We all need healing and salvation. We need healing from sin and back sliding, healing from hurts and griefs and wrongs, physical and emotional and spiritual healing. God has the power and authority to heal, and He brings comfort and peace to His people. He does not heal the wound lightly.

“For thou art my praise.” God does not just inhabit the praises of His people, He is their praise. Matthew Henry says this: “and for that reason I desire to be healed and saved, that I may live and praise thee. Thou art he whom I praise, and the praise due to thee I never gave to another. Thou are he whom I glory in, and boast of, for on thee do I depend.”

Jesus invites us to come to Him for healing and salvation. He never turns anyone away. Sometimes we cannot express our need for healing and our longing to be saved. We think that we need to have some good suggestions for God so that He will figure out what to do. But God doesn’t need us to spell it all out. We don’t even understand all the ins and outs of our need for healing. We simply must cry out to Him. “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”

February 22: Proverbs 19:18

Chasten your son while there is hope,

and do not set your heart on his destruction.

Here we have a verse that is a great kick in the pants for parents. Combined with the command to train up your children in the way they should go, this is a really strong marching order. Get on it parents. If you do not want your children to depart from the way they should go as they grow, we need to be training now.

The part that I find interesting in this is the second half. It doesn’t sound like this is a grieving parent exactly. This is more a situation of a parent who is not chastening, which produces the kind of child that you would like to see judged. I know you have seen a lot of public displays of this kind of thing – parents who are publicly shaming their disobedient teenagers because they would like nothing more than to see their children really get what is coming to them. Sometimes you see it in the making – a parent rolling their eyes at you about the disobedient children who are in their shopping cart. In effect they are saying, “Look at me. Don’t you feel bad for me? Look at what kind of children I got.” Or maybe you simply hear them yelling in overly dramatic tones at a small child – acting hugely put upon that their child was standing up in the cart, and not at all put out that they are the ones yelling like a child in the store. Whatever the case, they never seem to connect their own behavior to that of their children. They aren’t connecting their own lack of chastening to their desire to see their children judged.

But most likely in our circles, this is not the case. Most likely we are disciplining our children, we are wanting them to grow into strong Christians, and we have no desire to see them destroyed. But how might  we be tempted to shield our children from chastening? What is a way that we might blindly turn them away from the chastening and toward the judgment? This will doubtless seem like a leap – so bear with me.

I have often thought that one of God’s great kindnesses is the inescapability of illness. The fact that the stomach bug simply descends upon us is a real mercy. The first time that my first baby got seriously sick, I was shocked by the depth of my desire to take it away from her. I did not want her to have to feel this. I realized that if God left it up to us, we would never, ever volunteer our children for sickness. Just take a moment to imagine what kind of people we would make. Imagine an adult who didn’t know what it was like to suffer, to have a fever, or to be wretched sick.

We would never ask God to make the other kids exclude them on the playground. We would beg God to keep that mean kid from saying that to them. We would run interference with coaches, and teachers – making sure that they never did anything that would actually be hard on our children. We don’t want our children to suffer. And while that is a natural instinct, it is a way of setting your heart on their destruction.

Mothers can spend so much time trying to keep their kids from getting sick, that we forget that when sickness comes, it is God doing the refining. Although I don’t imagine any mother ever being excited to hear someone vomiting in the night, we should welcome the spiritual exercise of being sick. When God refines our children through illness, difficulty, a speech impediment, a mean kid, a hard teacher, a scary dream, we need our loyalties to be right. Most often, our first instinct is to side with the dross.

But this is not the way of a wise parent. When our children are in the furnace of trial (however small that flame might seem), we must side with the gold. The dross that is burning off is something that we should not defend. When our children are sick – we need to point them to gratitude. When our children are grumpy, we must point them to joy. When our children are excluded, we need to help them learn the lesson in it for them, not rush off to apply it to others. Motherly defensiveness is not always kindness. A wise mother encourages her children to let go of the dross – to accept the lessons, whether they are trivial or monumental, that is found in the furnace.

Samuel Rutherford said this beautifully “Why should I start at the plow of my Lord that makes the deep furrows on my soul?  I know He is no idle Husbandman; He purposes a crop.”

When God is plowing in the hearts of our children, we should not be running along side with band aids and crying about it. We should not be getting angry. God purposeth a crop, and the fact that the field He is plowing is one that we are sentimental about must not keep us from trusting. Trying to prevent that kind of plowing is trying to prevent a harvest. It is setting your heart on your child’s destruction.

 

February 21: The Source of Our Joy

“Though the fig tree may not blossom,nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls –Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

When God’s people suffer hard things in this life, our source of joy remains the same. Though creature comforts are a blessing to be enjoyed, they are never the real source of our joy. We joy in our salvation, like Habakkuk says, even if the externals fade away. If we get this straight, we are able to walk through hard times and continue to rejoice in the midst of them. But how do we do this?

The first thing we must do is cultivate a culture of gratitude in our homes. Gratitude for everything all the time. If we are grateful for the sunshine, we are also grateful for the drizzle and gray, remembering it’s those wet days that bring the food to the table.

Secondly, we admire His Providence. We receive all things from God’s hand, knowing He is sovereign over all, and orders all things for our good and His glory.

Third, we believe His promises. He is true to His Word. The Lord is our strength and help. This is why we can joy in our salvation and rejoice in the Lord no matter what’s in the cupboards or in the bank account. We can joy in Him though we have loved ones who are sick or in trouble. We trust Him.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…(Rom. 8:35). “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38).

The source of our joy is always the same, despite changing circumstances. Nothing can change this. Nothing can get in between you and your joy in the Lord.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men.  The Lord is at hand” (Phil 4:4-5).

 

February 20: Song of Solomon 2:15

Catch us the foxes,

The little foxes that spoil the vines,

For our vines have tender grapes.

This is a very widely applicable passage of scripture. When we are tending a vineyard, whatever it may be, there will be small foxes who would like to spoil it. From what I understand, sometimes the foxes would get into a vineyard and want to eat the grapes, but to get at them they would have to gnaw the vine down. So in pursuit of some little treat they would destroy a great thing. Something that could have born fruit for years, and matured into fine wines is sacrificed for a fleeting desire.

Small foxes can be little sins, little annoyances, little resentments, petty worry, or little self importance. The one thing that is always the case is that the small foxes are small. They do not look like they would do damage. There does not appear to be any harm in letting them into the vineyard. A small fox is a cute little thing that can tear down all of your vines. 

A small fox might be a little envy of someone else’s home. It might be a little angry that your husband forgot your anniversary. It might be a little annoyance at what your children need. It might be a little mistake, a little unconfessed sin. It might be a little bickering between your children.  It might be letting the fact that you feel fat or unattractive get in the way of worship, of enjoying a wedding, or of making love to your husband.

All of these things do damage exponentially. When sin is in the vineyard, the only thing it will do is destroy. Small foxes do not curl up and sleep, they tear down. They want some little reward – and they do not care what is being sacrificed for it.

Proverbs 14:1 says “Every wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.”

The foolish woman allows small foxes in her vineyard. She does not protect the vines, but rather indulges the sin. And this is one of the many ways that she can tear down her own house. She can let small sin destroy the harvest in future years.

Foxes are well known for being sneaky. They come from all different routes so no one can follow them home. They are sly. They are conniving. They are the perfect picture of sin and the human heart. Keeping them out is something that requires a lot of diligence – it requires a lot of depending on God to reveal them, and to give you the strength to kick them back out.

Someone somewhere said that you cannot keep the birds of temptation from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. And this is true of the small foxes too. You cannot keep them from sneaking in sometimes, but by God’s grace you can keep them from tearing down your vines.