Lori Stanley Roeleveld's Blog, page 27

Why Some Trees Fall

In the aftermath of several late season nor’easters, the Rhode Island road sides and woods are still littered with toppled trees.

The size of the trees, usually torn from the ground, roots and all, is a daily reminder to me of Proverbs 3:5-8: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

Prior to the winds and the storm, I would have never imagined those trees would fall. Even now, I can’t see from their trunks or their branches, any sign that their root systems were so shallow and ready to release their hold.

A lot of church people are like that. I once knew a man whose faith seemed so solid and so fierce, I couldn’t imagine a stronger Christian. His theology was tight. He had entire chapters of Romans committed to memory. And he loved nothing more than to guide young believers.

Years later, I learned he’d renounced his faith. Left his young family for a woman, not his wife, bereft spiritually and financially.

I think of him when I drive past those toppled trees.

It works the other way, too. Sometimes, I think people who don’t know Jesus are so far from knowing Him, it makes no sense for me to say anything about faith. Rather than heed God’s directive to speak up, I lean on my own understanding and let opportunities pass like moments I’ll never retrieve.

Once I taught a Bible study to a group of people who’d never studied the Bible. As we gathered for our first glimpse into the gospel of John, I mentioned that one of their friends, Sharona, had indicated she’d be joining us.

“Sharona! No way!” they exclaimed. “She’s not interested in God! Why, she’s a hardened feminist. She changes bed partners like she changes her shoes! She’s either atheist or Jewish or Ba’hai or something. No way she’s going to come, and if she does, all she’ll do is argue.”

Moments later, Sharona arrived. Three chapters into John, she was completely captivated by Jesus. She surrendered her life shortly thereafter and changed everything. Everything.  Some of the people who were sure she’d never be interested in Jesus made it through John and more without ever making that leap to faith in Christ.

One of the hardest lessons I’m learning about faith is not to lean on my own understanding. I think I can tell when someone is “ready” to receive Jesus, but the truth is, I haven’t a clue. And I think I can spot a solid believer from a hundred yards, but who knows which of those trees might topple in a sturdy gale?

God is ever reminding me that determining the state of someone’s soul is way above my pay grade, and truly, not my responsibility anyway. Every verse of scripture rings out with the motto of the New England Patriots – Just do your job!

It’s not my job to make a decision on souls. It is my job to speak truth in love, to be ready in season and out, to testify to what I’ve witnessed and what I know about Jesus, and to communicate the love of Christ to all with my actions, my inner being, and my words.

It’s the most freeing thing, to understand my “work” in furthering the kingdom is not to discern someone’s eternal state, but simply to be a Jesus-follower transparently and lovingly before their eyes.

God knows which trees are set to topple and which walls against faith are ready to fall. If I keep my eyes open and do my job, He’ll let me watch Him work. And that, loved ones, is the true adventure.

Why Some Trees Fall https://t.co/Dy4AFUix7F How to tell if someone is a Christian or ready to become a Christian #evangelism #Jesus #mystory

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 26, 2018

When Help Arrives, but We Send It Packing

How often do we pray for help, but when it arrives, reject it and send it packing? Much more frequently than we’re even aware.

There’s a simple explanation for this: we think we know what the help should look like. When it comes in a form we don’t recognize, we assume God didn’t answer our cry.

I see this played out in my both my personal and professional life every day. I can’t tell you at how many kitchen tables I’ve sat and heard people complain that life is harder now that help has arrived. The family or individual wonders if anyone really heard them. They consider sending the help away and returning to the familiarity of their crisis-filled lives.

Sometimes we grow nostalgic for enslavement in Egypt, because freedom requires faith, fight, and facing the unknown.

Countless times, I’ve experienced this in my personal life. I devote intensive prayer to a situation of my own or a family members’ only to suddenly face a crisis of epic proportions or see my loved one filled with angst or enduring hardship. Did God ignore my cry? Does God not understand what we’re made of?

Of course, the fault lies in our response to the help God sends, not in God’s comprehension of what is necessary.

Following the Exodus from slavery under Pharaoh, many of the Israelites rejected God’s passage to freedom. It was hard, wearisome, lacking in comfort, and demanded faith.

After centuries of praying for Messiah to come, many religious leaders rejected Jesus because He preached a message of personal repentance that discomforted the comfortable and upset the status quo.

Families in crisis turn help away at the door becomes it arrives, not with large checks or transformative pills, but with challenges to expectations, requests to face hard truths, and painfully small steps of incremental change designed to redirect their ship the long way out of troubled waters.

In 2011, with my last child poised to graduate from home school, I dedicated myself to following Jesus into the next adventure. On 1/1/11, I started a Christian writers’ accountability group and asked God to use my writing for His glory. I thought I knew what that meant.

Within the month, we’d lost our home. My husband lost his health, and shortly thereafter, his job, but not before we moved into a “fixer-upper” he’d stripped of walls, floors, and ceilings. I was offered full-time work I didn’t want, and we now lived across from my parents so that family dynamics shifted like tectonic plates.

In the flash of a lightning strike, I went from being a stay-at-home homemaker with a writing dream to an empty nesting, full-time working woman who lived in an unforgiving wooden box, not a home. My dream of writing full-time seemed yanked out from under me as the day job and caregiving for family took precedence. I asked God for help and He sent me this?

To say I wept for a year is no exaggeration. To say my soul was as deconstructed as our new home is not hyperbole. To say I finally understood the Israelites who wanted to go back to Egypt, is just honest confession. To say God knew what He was about all along is eternal truth.

As I wept, I also prayed. I’ll spare you the narrative, it wasn’t always pretty, but God’s heard it all and He stuck with me. “How is help? How could this possibly be the way?” I cried. And He answered, “It is always the way to have no other home than my heart. It is always the way to receive the help I send. It is always the way to know that I am The Way and to follow only me, not the paths you imagine.”

Israel had been enslaved for so long in Egypt that freedom was almost too uncomfortable to bear. And with freedom, came choices, personal responsibility, conflict, and an entirely new dependence on God.

Jesus did not act like the Messiah Israel had long-imagined. The religious leaders were so focused on the oppressor they could see (Rome), they’d grown blind to the oppressor of all time who had worked his way into their very souls. Jesus wasn’t there to free them from Rome. Rome was nothing. He came to free them from what would keep them enslaved eternally.

In stripping the comforts of the life I knew, Jesus saved me from a hundred levels of self-righteousness and independence I didn’t see until He peeled them away. He wouldn’t be glorified by my words until they emerged from a heart that had returned to make its home in Him. To think I nearly ran from help, braces me now when it continues to arrive in unpleasant and unappealing forms.

This is the place where several Bible verses collide, and we must mature (just a bit) in our approach to our own lives and the lives of those we love.

Proverbs 3:5-8 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

In James 1:2-8 we are warned, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Cry out to God for help, for this is right. Know that He hears. Ask for wisdom to recognize this help when it arrives, even if it looks like trouble. Be careful not to send His help packing. Believe and see what God will do.

When help arrives, but we send it packing. https://t.co/oRpQjKt54f Why do we reject God’s help and what would happen if we didn’t? #Jesus #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 21, 2018

If You’re Bored with Your Faith, This is Why

In life, there are puzzling mysteries begging to be solved and compelling mysteries calling to be explored.

Too many of us lead anemic spiritual lives that barely nourish our own souls and don’t attract any real interest from spiritual seekers because we treat God like the first kind of mystery – something to be solved.

Patiently, we explain the formula for knowing how one needs God and then steps one, two, and three on how to meet God. From there, we hand out pamphlets, classes, prescribed prayers, and “the right verses” to any concern or question that may arise for our eager converts.

If they have questions, we have answers. If we don’t have an answer, they’re asking the wrong question, so we send them back to the most recent answer we provided and instruct them to start over from there.

When we reduce a relationship with the Living God to a religious paint-by-the-numbers exercise, we aren’t representing Jesus as much as we’re satisfying an unhealthy craving for spiritual fast food. We’ve been waving hungry souls on to the window at McChurch and McChurch-Lite for so long, many of us have forgotten God is not that kind of mystery.

You see, the Living God, the Creator God, the Redeemer of Humankind, the Almighty, the Author of Our Faith, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, isn’t a puzzling mystery to be solved, He’s a compelling mystery to be explored.

Like outer space.

Like the frontier.

Like the deep sea.

Like the height and depth of orchestral symphonies.

Like the spectrum of light as it plays out through the endless palette of colors through countless artistic mediums.

Like the intricacies of biology, chemistry, physics, and meteorology.

Like the limits of the body.

Like the capacity of the mind.

Like the miracle of the heart.

The apostle Paul felt it vital to convey the imperative nature of this mystery to Timothy, in case he was delayed in communicating it to him face-to-face when he wrote: “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:14-16 ESV

How much more wondrous to be invited into a mystery by an explorer struggling to discover the optimal words to explain what he or she has witnessed in their expedition into the God-life?

How much more compelling to be told there is more of God to investigate, experience, and understand, and that it is to this life of traveling the endless expanse of the Jesus adventure that you are inviting this hungry soul?

Beyond the galaxy, there lies eternity with the One in whose imagination was born all we see and know and more than we can imagine.

How much more exciting and comprehensive to explain that every pioneering-undertaking requires training, knowledge, character, sacrifice, and no small amount of suffering, but all to serve the purpose of finding what is there and reporting back on what has been learned!

This is the mystery of the God-life that burned like unquenchable flames in the lives of the first disciples so that a small band of ragged men and women were the genesis for the church which is the Body of Christ which is a mystery that testifies to the greatest mystery – that of God’s love for us.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,  of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.” Colossians 1:24-26 ESV

We enter this mystery through Jesus Christ and we live it by obeying His Word,

saying “yes” to God when He offers us opportunities to serve others, even if (especially if) they take us out of our comfort zone into a place of full dependency on the Holy Spirit,

and following love to its natural end which is its beginning in the heart of God.

If you’re bored with your faith (and boring those around you with it), it’s because you’ve reduced God to a puzzling mystery that can be solved on a lazy Sunday afternoon after a long nap.

God, the Living God, is a compelling mystery calling restless souls, dissatisfied with the easy trinkets this world treasures, to explore what He is about

and to lose their lives only to gain an eternal adventure.

This is not the way of boredom. It’s the mysterious Way we were designed to travel. Few find out. Be one of those few.

If you’re bored with your faith, this is why . . .https://t.co/TFiz6fMc2y #Jesus #mystery #evangelism

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 10, 2018

Five Ways to Respond to People Angry with God or Hurt by the Church

Let me confess to a struggle I have and admit, I may be short on answers about this problem.

Still, I suspect others share my dilemma and it’s important we have this conversation.

How should those of us who thrive in relationship with Jesus and find deep community in the church respond to those who “tried Jesus” and found Him lacking or who have left the church because their experience was damaging?

I cringe when I see a news article or blog post written by someone clearly angry with God or the church who found “happiness and fulfillment” by leaving. Each situation differs, so we can’t really form blanket answers. Of course, like Christ, we need to exercise compassion, but what does that look like because Jesus also never compromised the truth?

From individuals in the LGBTQ community who found “freedom” by leaving the church or by forming churches open to their lifestyles,

to individuals who were damaged by “patriarchy,”

to children who grew up in the faith who never felt understood or in sync with the “real world,”

to those who felt disillusioned when their families faced rejection over divorce or abuse the church didn’t address,

to those who suffered under unmerciful and heartless authority, these stories are not something we should just dismiss.

Their voices carry weight because they were once “inside,” church-goers, family. As voices testifying against the faith and as souls valuable to our Father, they merit attention. Many of us simply read their stories, sort it out in our minds, and move on, but I don’t think that always serves the greater conversation.

Here are some foundational ideas for discussion:

First, do no harm. Quick answers, condemnation, and angry emotional responses serve no one. James instructs all of us: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20) Listening is not the same as approving. Compassion is not the same as compromise.

Second, refrain from fretting. The experiences of others don’t negate our experiences or the truth of Jesus Christ. Psalm 37:8 says, Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” In my experience, this has proven true. The pain of those wounded by the church and the declarations of those who have turned their backs on Jesus do not change God, nor do they alter the greater story. So, we can listen and care without fretting or fear.

Third, exercise humility. We can freely admit that some have caused serious damage to others in the name of Jesus. There are toxic people and congregations who operate in Jesus’ name. Some are immature believers. Some are harboring sin and hardening their hearts. Some are victims of false teaching. Others are counterfeit, wolves in sheep’s clothing, sent to sow destruction amongst the faithful. We can have a ministry binding these wounds and exposing falsehoods if we acknowledge the existence of destruction done under the guise of our faith.

Fourth, ask the right questions. When listening to someone angry with the church or with God, we’re tempted to ask ourselves, “How can I defend the church, the faith, or God right now?” This is the wrong question. Our Father defends us. He doesn’t need us standing guard around His throne. Instead, ask, “How can I best serve this hurting soul? How do I best demonstrate love and communicate truth in a way that will be heard?” Rather than asking, “How do I give them the right answers?” ask, “How can I respond in a way that helps them see Jesus?”

Fifth, ask permission to tell your story. People who are wounded or in rebellion have stories to tell and they are often lurid or passionate enough to garner quick attention. But, our stories are valid and are also worth telling. The problem being too often we don’t invest the same amount of passion, creativity, or thought into ours.

We dismiss our own stories of healing, answered prayer, renewed hearts, reconciled relationships, freedom from sin, and communion with others and withhold them from those who need them most. And yet, perception becomes reality until a greater truth overrides it in a meaningful way. We need to speak the greater truth at every opportunity.

But, we don’t. Partly, that’s a sinful expression of laziness, unbelief, and doubt (“Did God really do that or am I just lucky?” “Why bother learning to tell that story – I’m not comfortable getting personal.”) Also, we have an element of survivor’s guilt. (“Why did God provide for my need and not for theirs?” “How did I gain freedom from that sin when she’s still trapped?”)

Or we nurture a fear of offending, of speaking hard truths into delusions, or of getting into the unpleasant details of our own struggles and attempts to overcome sin or work our way through wounds. And yet, we must speak faith into this fear.

If the only stories being told are those from the wounded, the angry, the rebellious, or those who have walked away, how does this light the darkness for others trying to find their way?

And some who have walked away are simply looking for an excuse to part ways with Jesus, but there are some hoping there’s a way back. We can illuminate their path by listening, loving, and sharing the stories we know to be true – ours and that of Jesus Christ.

There’s more to this conversation, but it’s not one I can have alone. You have a piece of this. What are your thoughts? How do you approach these conversations? What makes them better? What makes them worse?

FIVE WAYS TO RESPOND TO PEOPLE ANGRY WITH GOD OR HURT BY THE CHURCH https://t.co/f5zvL6byeY #wounded #Jesus #servingothers

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 6, 2018

No One Wants the Life Jesus Promised – Not Even Me

Jesus came to give us life to the full but no one really wants that.

Think about it. Jesus had life to the full and so did His followers. There was companionship, laughter, and joy. There were miracles, healings, and the dead raised from the grave. Cowards found courage. The cold-hearted learned to love and apostles sometimes transported from one place to another in an instant.

But there was also rejection, suffering, and the pain of hard choices. Apostles were driven from cities, caught in storms at sea, and stoned. They were separated from loved ones and confronted by unfriendly spirits. There were beatings, imprisonment, and crucifixions. Death preceded every resurrection.

This was a full life. This was not the small living many of us experience today. These were great stories unfolding from deep lives willing to open themselves up to the full life of Christ.

I once heard a group of sincere, godly women proclaim that they want the life they’ve read in Acts. I agreed with them at the time but when I drew apart with God, He called me on it. Do you really want this Acts existence or are you only scanning the apostolic trailer, the highlights reel, the headlines of what it means to follow Me?

True disciples follow Jesus into the valley of death, into the prison cell of suffering, and into the shipwreck of the self, denied. You dream of the Acts life but those who follow Me bury their dreams in the dirt like mustard seeds and there they wait in the dark while I do My work within them.

Yes, the life that springs forth from them is like a mighty tree that bears fruit in its time. But first, there is darkness, damp earth, and death.

Jesus drank deeply from the full cup of God’s plan for Him and it cost Him everything. The day between the crucifixion and the resurrection is a yearly reminder the we must be buried with Him to rise with Him. Most of us are willing to settle for only a tiny percent of the full life Jesus came to bring. Think about that.

I’ve seen a trailer for a movie called Lucy. In it, Morgan Freeman describes the main character who is undergoing a chemically-induced transformation so she’s able to use an increasing amount of her brain. Most of us only use about 10%. Not Lucy. In the trailer, Freeman’s character says this about her: At 24%, she can control the cells in her body. At 40%, she can control matter. At 62%, she can control other people. What happens when she reaches 100%? No one knows.

Jesus calls us to the full life. An Acts life. And if we could hear Him inviting us deeper into this life, I think we would hear Him say something similar to Morgan Freeman’s Lucy speech. Most of you Christians are only experiencing 10% of the full life. If you follow Me, at 24% you can control your thoughts and attitudes. At 40%, you can be content in any circumstance. At 62%, you stop trying to control people and experience the freedom to love them sacrificially. What happens at 100%? Follow me. I’ll show you. I’m there.

Follow Him where? Into death. Death of self. Because death precedes every resurrection.

Do I want life to the full? I want to want it. I’m praying for the courage to receive it.

I don’t want to remain stuck in the small story of my small mind, my stunted soul, my lesser life. I want to follow Jesus into His great story; my mind transformed, my soul expanded, my life lived to the full.

What about you? Do you want to remain trapped in your small story? Operating from a lesser calling? Or are you willing to follow Him to live the true fullness of the Jesus life?

I think we should worry less about being small-minded and concern ourselves with avoiding the smallness of soul that keeps us from following Jesus wherever He wants to lead us.

This week, this holiest of weeks, ask Jesus – what does this look like in my life, Lord? I want to go where you go. Take me with you.

No One Wants the Life Jesus Promised – Not Even Me https://t.co/y2y43N36TY Find out why #HolyWeek2018 #Jesus #life

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 26, 2018

In Defense of Words

Words get a bad rap these days. Especially words spoken by Christians. (You know, of course, that we’ve become the villains of our times.)

We’ve earned a measure of our poor reputation through hypocrisy and lazy faith.

That’s a sad state of affairs each of us must address in our mirrors and in our reflections in God’s Word. More on that in a moment.

But, it’s also de rigueur to eschew a certain kind of Christian.

You know the type. The ones who dare speak in public what they study in private. The ones who talk about sin as a serious problem requiring action and not just as an archaic notion we flaunt with our Netflix library. The ones who still believe in repentance, eternal consequences for rejecting Jesus Christ who is the only way of salvation, and that mercy and hard truth can emerge from the same heart.

There are christians who speak another version of truth, but that’s like saying there are Louis Vuitton bags for sale from a car trunk in the lower East Side. Capisci?

It’s essential, of course, that our lives prove our words and our actions speak just as loudly as our Tweets and Instagram memes, but, Believer, words matter.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a

God spoke the world into being, (Genesis 1) which testifies to the creativity, power, intelligence, and strength of His Words. And we are made in His image and are being sanctified into the image of Jesus who is the Word and so you must concede our words then, have creative, powerful, intelligent, strong potential to effect eternity.

And God agrees because He warns us that one day we will account for even every careless word we speak (or share on Facebook). (Matthew 12:36-37)

This is why our silence is a crime and our failure to speak when opportunities arise a dereliction of duty, betraying a merciless attitude that says I’d rather be safe and have you like me than tell you a truth that has eternal implications, so I can be socially comfortable until we part ways forever.

We live in the times of CSI and NCIS, so in love with autopsy we’d rather dissect a living truth until it lies dead on our table and then declare it didn’t hold up under the knife than to explore a living, breathing mystery that talks back with uncomfortable truths about ourselves. But the ancients did not divide action and word, any more than they divorced body from soul and mind.

Hear the words of our brother, Paul, who wrote to encourage and instruct a young pastor shepherding a group of Jesus followers through trying times. Look at the intensity of the verbs. Note the equal weight given to words as to deeds. Appreciate that these words echo through time with undiluted power and voice protected not by humanity, but by God Himself for our encouragement and instruction for life.

“If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” (I Timothy 4:6) Training. This speaks of discipline, perseverance, and diligent effort, yes?

 

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.” (1 Timothy 4:7-9)

Are we less devoted to training that will serve us endlessly into the adventure that awaits our souls than we are to the training that may only serve us for another decade or two?

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (I Timothy 4:10) Toil and strive, are these verbs reflected in our investment in our faith?

“Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (I Timothy 4:11-12) Again, these are confident active verbs that speak equally to words as to the actions that testify to their truth.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.” (I Timothy 4:13-14) There is no place here for private faith, for secret devotion, for flying under the social radar. Devotion, public reading, exhortation, teaching, and not neglecting our gifts. These are action words designed to disrupt our lives and discomfort all who know the name of Jesus.

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (I Timothy 4:15-16) The strength of these words is like Michael Phelps slicing through water in pursuit of gold. Practice, immerse, be visible to others, keep close watch, persist, save yourself and others. Are we lesser Olympians in the race for souls?

Do we care that we may be the generation that finishes this chapter of th

e story and if so, do we care about finishing well?

There is no more holistic faith than that of those who follow Jesus Christ. Discipleship requires our whole focus, our all-encompassing attention, our body, soul, mind, strength, words, and works, loved ones.

Words are not just words. Words light the way for souls fumbling in the dark for the door that leads to life. When was the last time you spoke up?

In Defense of Words https://t.co/ZSiK0YPMge do actions speak louder than words or is there more to that story? #Jesus #amwriting #words

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 22, 2018

The Distinctive Communication Style of Pharisees

Pharisees have a distinctive style of communication. We see it play out repeatedly in their interactions with Jesus.

It’s important in our efforts to fight our inner Pharisee to be aware of how Pharisees behave. In my first post in this series, I mentioned three things you notice right away about Pharisees. This time, it’s important to listen to what they say and what they don’t.

Because, the next thing you notice about Pharisees is that they can’t hide from Jesus.

Several times the gospel writers tell us that the religious rulers were watching Jesus at work, and they had thoughts about it that they wouldn’t express, but Jesus addressed them.

In Matthew 9, Jesus told the paralytic on a mat that his sins were forgiven. Matthew tells us, “And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’”

He knew their thoughts. He knows what’s in a person and what’s on a person’s mind.

That hits close to home. I’ve walked with Jesus a lot of years so I’m pretty good at keeping my mouth shut. But, that’s not enough for Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t give a fig what we appear to be thinking – and there isn’t any half-credit for not letting sinful thoughts emerge from our mouths. He calls us to an inside-out obedience – primarily, you have to imagine – because that requires us to absolutely rely on Him and not on our own strength.

Jesus isn’t bothered by sincere questions asked directly of Him. In the same chapter of Matthew, John the Baptist’s followers ask Jesus why His followers don’t fast. Jesus gives them a straight answer. When the woman at the well questions Jesus and Nicodemus (a Pharisee) comes to Him alone in the night with hard questions, Jesus patiently answers.

The problem lies in having questions, opinions, and disagreements with Jesus, while trying to appear like “it’s all good.” The problem lies in hypocrisy, masks, and hidden agendas.

It makes sense that Jesus doesn’t want followers who try to look like they’re on board while inside they harbor evil they believe they disguise. Disguises are a form of deception and deception is the enemy’s territory, not ours.

We show our cards. We reveal our hearts. We live with transparency, completely reliant on Jesus. As soon as we slip on a mask, we take a step away from the freedom He died to deliver.

There’s no hiding from Jesus, loved ones. He’ll find us out, every time.

It’s also clear in Matthew 9 (as it is in other gospel stories) that the Pharisees tend to talk about Jesus, not TO Jesus.

HUGE difference.

It’s easy enough for any of us to fall into this. We can spend hours teaching others the Bible, witnessing, preaching, writing, sharing on Facebook, defending the faith, or ministering in His name, and yet, at the end of the day, realize we can’t recall the last time we prayed (no, grace before meals doesn’t count.)

Read the gospels and prove me out. The disciples and true seekers (even Gentiles) spoke TO Jesus – frequently. The Pharisees talked about Jesus incessantly, but rarely spoke directly to Him.

In our efforts to flee from our inner Pharisee, prayer is key. Talk TO Jesus more than you talk about Him – that’s a solid start.

Finally, there are three verses toward the end of Matthew 9, that reveal another problem with being a Pharisee. Anything they can’t explain or haven’t seen before or that disrupts the norm, they immediately suspect is evil.

“As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him.  And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, ‘Never was anything like this seen in Israel.’ But the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the prince of demons.’” Matthew 9:32-34

Of course, Christians must be discerning. Of course, the actions of the church – including new initiatives and practices, must be weighed against God’s Word.

But with each new age, with each new season of faith, with each generation that hurtles nearer and nearer the end, there will be new works, signs, and demonstrations of ministry.  We cannot stiffen our spines or our hearts to where we aren’t open to new works of the Holy Spirit through the next generation.

There are challenges in every season of a believer’s life. Before we know Christ, the challenge is to find Him. When we are new to the faith, the challenge is to learn and grow. As we mature in our faith, the challenge is to boldly exercise our freedom and experience without losing sight of our first love. We must fight our inner Pharisee – but don’t be afraid. Jesus knows exactly what to do.

Keep your eyes and hearts open to Him, loved ones. It’s a long way from the ground to glory.

The Distinctive Communication Style of Pharisees https://t.co/NrF3HrBOTf #Jesus #Hypocrisy #spirituality

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 16, 2018

Five Ways to Be an Older Woman Younger Women Can Hear

They’re not listening.

This is the complaint I hear from my contemporaries about the next generations.

Women of a certain age worry about the generations coming up behind us.

We know we have a biblically-ordained responsibility to reach and teach younger women, but we flounder in this task. Largely because we view it as a task to be done, rather than an art to be practiced, an adventure to be lived, an act of love to be expressed with our whole being.

There’s a lot I don’t know about reaching the next generation. (I invite anyone under forty reading this to share your thoughts in the comments.) But, we all have to start somewhere. Certainly, younger generations are responsible to have ears that can ear, but older generations must do their part.

Here are five ways to be older women younger women can hear.

Live a Great Story – If the only Jesus-story or testimony you have to share is three decades old, it’s time to update your God-card. What exactly are you doing with this freedom Jesus died to provide?

If you’re reading your Bible, praying, obeying, worshiping, serving, giving, and sacrificing, there should be stories. If there aren’t, check in with a mature believing friend and ask God to refresh your assignment.

Don’t get stuck in a lesser story than Jesus designed you to live! Genuine, mature faith deepens like wine. Religious practice alone, like old bread, grows stale with time. Younger women yearn to be part of a great story. Older women living one will earn their attention. Once you have it, invite them to join you.

Vision Forward, Not Back – One of most ignored Bible verses is Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” Older woman are too often walking in the path of Lot’s wife – so busy looking back they’ve been left behind.

Travel light into tomorrow. Leave the past where it belongs. They weren’t better days, they were just different. Jesus is in this day and where He is is where we need to be, even when times are hard.

God designed you for these times. He designed you to be an older woman in these days. If your focus is the eternal adventure stretching before us, your eyes will be full of light. If your focus is the past, you risk the fate of Lot’s wife, simply a cautionary footnote who ended her future trying to cling to her past. We may not share a similar past with younger generations, but we share today, and we could be friends into eternity, so keep your vision focus forward and you’ll find more opportunity to make connections with youth.

Know Something About the Culture – Seriously, watch a movie made in the past five years. Check out a television show that’s not on TVLand or MeTV. Listen to the radio. Read a best-seller. Explore modern happenings.

If God called you to the mission field, you’d explore the culture. He’s called you to the next generations. Explore their culture – and not like it’s a smelly fish – like it’s a fascinating puzzle. Invite younger women over to binge watch something with them on Netflix or listen to their favorite musical artists. Trade off watching one of their favorite movies followed by one of yours. Ask them what attracts them to their entertainment choices.

Start a book club and invite the younger women. Switch off book choices by generation. Have a makeover weekend where the younger generation makes over the older and vice-versa. Be teachable, accepting, and curious. That’s a combination that is the foundation of role models. Laugh Easily. Love generously. Re-invent old age.

Be Vulnerable, Available, and Present – No matter how old we get, we’re sinners saved by grace alone. As we mature, we begin to get some things right, but we still fail. We don’t know everything. Forget the fake. Park your pretense. Let your vulnerability surface.

Confess your failures. Tell younger women your fears and needs. Be emotionally available and wholly present with the young woman beside you. Listen to her. Ask questions. Let time go lightly when she’s around. Be willing to go where she is when she’s available to talk. Younger women don’t want someone who’s perfect, they want someone who’s present.

Start an advice club where women share wisdom across generations. Older women can ask advice about talking with their daughters. Younger women can advice about careers, growing in faith, men, managing money. Single women can share counsel across generations. The middle generation can ask advice about dealing with aging parents. Widows can discuss dating with the thirty-somethings. We’ll get past the issues that divide if we don’t hide.

Finally, keep growing up. In this phase of life, we may be seniors, but in the light of eternity, we’ve only just begun. In 2 Peter 1:1-10, he lists eight qualities (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love) that if we have them in increasing measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful in our knowledge of Jesus. If we don’t increase in these qualities, we are nearsighted to the point of being blind. Make every effort to grow in these qualities and we’ll be effective and fruitful with the generations coming up behind us.

We lose a lot as we age. Here are some things to intentionally lose for the sake of building the kingdom in younger women – fear, a critical spirit, inflexibility, arrogance, hypocrisy, and pretense. We each contribute to the culture of women in the kingdom of Christ. What does it look like in your corner?

Add to my list. Comment with your own ideas about being older women younger women can hear.

Five Ways to Be an Older Woman Younger Women Can Hear https://t.co/kr7HwiK7R6 #Jesus #women #Christian

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 13, 2018

Controlling the Narrative – How Christians Are Getting It All Wrong

We’re doing it wrong. Really wrong. But, it’s not hard to do it right. This post won’t take long.

These are the days of public relations, round-the-clock communication, social media, and spin. Anyone with an agenda or message knows how important it is to “control the narrative” or “get ahead of the story” when engaging others.

Politicians, entertainers, business giants, and even the church invest considerable resources into savvy packaging, slick graphics, media monitoring, and structured talking points on every issue, controversy, and campaign.

I don’t care about any of that.

This hoopla is a smokescreen devised in some back room where the evil one plots ways to divert our attention from the real work of advancing the kingdom.

The only story we need to manage is the one we tell ourselves.

That’s right. All day, every day, we tell ourselves a story, hanging every event, situation, or challenge on some point of that story to make sense of our lives, motivate our actions, and direct our thoughts. The narrative we believe about our own lives matters more than anything we speak to everyone else.

Imagine you’re a married woman with no education around conception and child birth. After a mysterious weight gain over several months, one night your body is gripped with unbearable pain that won’t resolve no matter what you try.

You’re in agony with no recourse. As the pain continues and increases for hours on end, you might reasonably imagine you were dying. You may even despair of life. Nothing about the moment you’re in leads you to theorize this distress might eventually resolve on its own, never mind that it leads to new life.

Knowing the story of conception and childbirth doesn’t remove the pain or the effort required by labor, but it does inspire hope to endure, focuses effective effort, and reduces panic.

Likewise, making sure the story we tell ourselves about our lives is informed by biblical truth doesn’t remove the pain or the energy required to make our way through the trials of this planet, but it does inspire hope to endure, focuses effective effort, and reduces panic.

Operating under the truth of the biblical story ensures that our lives will testify (by our actions, attitudes, and affirmations) to the reality of Jesus.

Imagine what Christian lives would look like to others if we continually believed the truth that we are loved, visible to the Almighty God, and secured for eternal life.

Imagine the impact of people who abandoned worry because in our life narrative, there is no need to fret. Or how churches and missions would flourish because we trust the story that we are to give freely even as we have received.

I guess if I want my illustration to reflect our reality, it would more closely be like a woman who was originally told the story of conception and childbirth, but who goes through labor with people yelling at her that she’s believed a lie, that there’s no reason to trust that life will be pain’s outcome, and that she should give into despair.

The prince of this world rules the air and so deception seeps into our thoughts through our ears, eyes, pores and through every competing story that assaults us throughout our days.

Wise Christians take frequent stops to ask, what is the narrative I’m believing about this moment? Is it informed by biblical truth or have I wandered off track into a lesser story?

The more we manage the narrative we believe, the more naturally our words will reflect His story to the world.

Stop expending energy exclusively trying to control everyone else’s narrative. Be sure the only story you’re believing about your life is the one that Jesus is telling, and you’ll find your witness click into its chamber like a key turning in the door of a cell to which you are no longer confined.

This is why Bible reading is as necessary as water, coffee, tooth brushing, and clean air.

This is why doctrine is not a four-letter word.

This is why fellowship with Christians is like checking teeth after eating spinach.

This is why sound teaching is more important than Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Fire.

What is the story you believe about your life and who is controlling THAT narrative? If it’s not the Holy Spirit, you’re better off NOT trying to affect anyone else’s story until you get that much straight.

Because not everyone lives happily ever after. The choices we make now matter.

If you do what I say – you’ll LIVE ahead of the story, baby, and that will advance the kingdom.

Controlling the Narrative – How Christians Are Getting It All Wrong https://t.co/K8u8mtbXwD #Jesus #story

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 6, 2018

The First Thing You Notice about Pharisees

I have lately taken up the study of Pharisee watching.

It started when a twenty-something gushed over advice I’d provided and referred to me as “wise” (old). It was further inspired when another staffer asked how old someone born in 1978 would be and the reply was forty.

Forty? Really. Forty? I left high school for early admission to college after my junior year in 1978. So, that forty is still working its way past my frontal cortex. The part of my brain that encourages denial keeps fending it off from settling anywhere permanent. It cannot possibly be forty years since I completed high school.

But, you’re wondering about the Pharisees. You see, I began following Jesus even earlier than 1978, in the early sixties when I was only a child, so that means I’ve been shadowing His sandaled-footsteps for over fifty years.

What makes the difference, I wonder into my mirror, between maturing in Christ and hardening one’s soul-arteries into inflexible religiosity?

How does one walk with Jesus for five decades without joining the religious establishment? So, because I’d like to recognize a Pharisee should one show-up in my reflection, I decided to see if I could learn what to beware of by watching them in the gospel stories.

The first thing I notice about Pharisees is that they do show up. John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. He’s drawing crowds and with these crowds gathered at the river are Pharisees.

You’ll notice these guys are everywhere in the gospels. They apparently love to be where everything is happening. They like to be seen. The go through the motions. They show up.

Maybe, it’s hard for them to be alone, or to rest with only the attention of their families. Do they crave constant affirmation or attention? Do they hunger to be in the know? Do they fear missing out and being excluded from the happenings? Do they struggle with personal depth, and so they rely on the constant validation of the crowds, their peers, and the sinners they’ve bullied into believing that Pharisees have it all together?

(Yeah, now I’ve gone from preaching to meddling, I know.)

Certainly, there must have been some Pharisees who were there out of genuine concern for shepherding the flock of Israel. According to biblestudytools.com, Josephus, an ancient historian, refers to Pharisees this way: “Josephus says the Pharisees maintained a simple lifestyle (Ant18.1.3 [12]), were affectionate and harmonious in their dealings with others (War 2.8.14 [166]), especially respectful to their elders (Ant18.13 [12]), and quite influential throughout the land of Israel.” I don’t know, that sounds kind of nice, right?

That’s what makes this Pharisee-business so tricky. Pharisees appear to start out as sincere seekers wanting to please God. But, then we come to the second thing you notice about Pharisees.

The second thing you notice about Pharisees is that John (and Jesus) speak to them differently than they do to the crowds. If I were proclaiming the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, I think I’d be thrilled that the religious leaders of the area had arrived to partake.

Not John. He wants to know who invited them to the river! He calls them a brood of vipers, which I’m sure isn’t flattering even in the original Greek so I didn’t bother to look it up. He tells them to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” which certainly implies that’s not what he’s seeing from them.

The word John (and Jesus) use for repentance translated metanoia, in the Greek, which according to Strong’s means, “a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.”

A change of mind as opposed to a change of mouth. John and Jesus call us to change our minds about what we’ve been doing or purposing to do and not just say “Sorry” and move on.

Anyone who has dealt with children knows the difference between repentance and “sorry.” Apparently, Pharisees were a sorry lot, but not in a way that produced a true change representative of repentance.

The third thing I noticed today is that Pharisees tend to defend themselves by referencing their associations or their lineage. “We are children of Abraham.” “I come from a long line of Baptist ministers.” “I’ve been a church-goer since I was a child.” “I’ve always believed this way.” “I been giving to this church for forty years.” “I’ve been the head of this ministry for two decades.”

John tells them straight out that if their minds have been changed by repentance and the receipt of forgiveness, their lives will testify by fruit, not by lineage or association.

So today, I ask the Lord to instruct me and to flush out my inner Pharisee. Am I content to be in my own company? Is my family’s attention enough? Am I restless alone with God worried I’ll miss out on something important? Do I only exist if others verify or validate my existence?

Am I moved to repentance by the presence of sin in my life or have I become a sorry Christian? Is my mind changed about my sin or am I just sorry to be caught?

Does the fruit of my life testify to the active work of Jesus on my soul or am I referring to my history to stake a claim to the present work of the kingdom?

I’m not done Pharisee-watching and I invite you to take a peek into the gospels with me. Just trying to keep it real, loved ones, and as fresh as new life every day, all the way, until we are home. Thoughts?

The First Thing You Notice about Pharisees. https://t.co/ma3jICQ7nD Have you experienced a change of mind or just a change of mouth? #Jesus #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 1, 2018