Lori Stanley Roeleveld's Blog, page 28

His Words Had an Eternal Impact on My Life – Rev. Billy Graham – Gone Home

I never met him, but his words had an eternal impact on my life.

When I was a very young girl, my mom had a Billy Graham Crusade playing on the black-and-white television in our living room while she sewed at the kitchen table.

Something about Rev. Graham’s voice drew my attention to his words. Maybe it was the confidence. Maybe it was the authority. Surely, it was the work of the Holy Spirit, as my heavenly Father used Rev. Graham’s message to draw me to His Son, Jesus, and thus, to Himself.

When Rev. Graham gave the altar call to come forward and accept Jesus Christ, I took him up on the opportunity. I walked forward in front of our living room TV and asked Jesus to forgive me all my sins. I believed He died in my place on the cross and rose again, so that I, too, could have eternal life.

Before I even learned to read, I entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and it’s made all the difference.

It didn’t make me perfect, or sinless, or saintly. It made me free. It made me whole in all the ways that wholeness matters. It made me salt, light, warrior, and kingdom-builder. It made me a child of the Most High King.

Since that day, I have always belonged to a family. Since that day, I am ever turning from my small story and entering a greater story. Since that day, I have lived knowing I am loved.

The little girl who heard a sermon by a great preacher wouldn’t even hear the word evangelical for another twenty-some years. She knew nothing of politics, Southern Baptists, or crusades. But, because of Rev. Graham, she knew that Jesus would receive her just as she was and never abandon her from that day forward.

It was the tradition at our local church not to baptize children until the age of twelve. I began petitioning the deacons yearly for permission to be baptized almost as soon as I could write. I asked. I pleaded. I even wrote letters about how much I loved Jesus and understood the meaning of baptism. The finally relented and allowed me to be baptized when I was eleven. The hymn I requested for that day in the pond behind our church was “Just As I Am.”

Billy Graham once said, “‘Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.’”

Today, He has gone home, on to greater adventures with God than we can ever imagine on this outpost of glory. And those of us who remain will carry on.

You see, there was a time for one man whose words reached millions. We are entering a different time. Now, it is a time for each of those millions to reach one or two.

We don’t need another Billy Graham, or there would be one. We need every voice that was touched by his to speak the name of Jesus to another – just as we are.

Thank you, Rev. Graham, for speaking light into a dark world. That light reached a living room in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, and now my soul will shine forever.

His Words Had an Eternal Impact on My Life – Rev. Billy Graham – Gone Home https://t.co/2hWAWlrHkT #BillyGraham #homecoming #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 22, 2018

The Church of Chicken Little – How Do We Represent the Voice of Jesus in Demanding, Divisive Times

What does the voice of Jesus sound like in demanding, divisive times?

As His church, we need to consider this because we either represent it, convolute it, or dilute it depending on what we add to the public conversation.

This is the question communicators for Jesus wrestle with whenever we dip a toe into a society-wide discussion or step up to whichever pulpit, stage, or social media venue we’ve determined to be our microphone.

I would propose, however, that even those who contain their conversations to car rides, coffee shops, and kitchen tables should ask the same question.

Wherever, whenever we represent Jesus, whoever we are, we impact the plan for His kingdom. What we whisper in the ear of a friend can travel like the light of a star in a distant galaxy and continue to testify to its origin long after our soul has gone dark on this side of glory.

For me, part of discovering the answer lies in knowing what His voice doesn’t sound like.

For instance, not once in scripture do I hear the voice of God mimic that of Chicken Little.

Jesus knew better than us all how steep the price of sin, how dire the situation of humankind, and how far we’ve fallen from our intended glory. And yet, we don’t see Him running through the streets of Jerusalem shrieking that the sky is falling.

Too many modern believers testify to some false Chicken Little Church. Through their words, Jesus sounds panicked, foreboding, and desperate.

I don’t have a verse to back it up, but I believe we can trust that Jesus never whined. We know He never played the victim. Voices like this reflect their own manufactured light, not His.

I wrestle with this. I’m working this out for my own work, my own voice. When I speak or write on current events, too often Jesus’ voice through mine is too strident or too plaintive. It’s an ongoing work to align my words, tone, and emotional tenor with His.

We need one another to get this right. Revelation 1:15b says, “his voice was like the roar of many waters.” Corporately, we represent Him and so together, we contribute to the sound. Here are some foundational thoughts on this:

First, the Body of Christ should lead the conversation, set the agenda, host the discussion. We need to not wait to be invited in. We represent God and God initiates.

Jesus never let others set the agenda for discussion. The religious leaders baited Him. Sinners tried to distract Him. Satan worked to derail Him. But, He didn’t waiver from His Father’s talking points.

The church faces all these obstacles, but we have the example of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome. No matter where the world wants to take the conversation, we need to be clear on God’s agenda, His talking points. Rather than dodge challenging conversations, the church needs to be creating opportunities for them to occur.

Second, the tenor of our corporate voice should be hopeful, brave, and redemptive, no matter the times. Disciples of Christ face the future unafraid.

We know there’s trouble ahead. We believe persecution and hardship will come. Yet, we walk in confidence and freedom in the steps of the One who conquered death. We know that ultimately what lies ahead is abundant and eternal life, so, while our eyes are open to the now, our vision is set on the time to come. We are those who see beyond.

Yes, we call out sin where we see it, even in ourselves. Yes, we warn others of the coming wrath, even those in power. Yes, our message isn’t always comfortable, cozy, or easily consumed. But, we can learn to explain the consequences of sinful choices while expressing confidence in the character of God and testifying to the hope of redemption.

We can own up to feeling fear and yet, explain the reason we have for courage. We can admit to sorrow over current circumstances, while pointing to the joy that is ours in Christ.

Third, our message moves us forward. The Kingdom of God is an advancing unit, not one with a view to the past. We respect the work that has transpired, but we build on it, we don’t dwell in it. Our call is to where we are now and where we are going in Christ.

Some Christians make a habit of ignoring Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” They risk forming the Church of the Sacred Salt Pillar.

As a church, are we initiating conversation, inviting others into dialog, and hosting discussions about the concerns of our times?

When we speak, is our language hopeful, brave, and redemptive? Does it testify to a kingdom beyond the trials ahead?

Is the motive of our message one that advances and propels the kingdom forward to eternity or are we tethered to an irretrievable past?

These questions are where I begin when determining what I contribute to the many waters representing the voice of Christ in our times. What are your thoughts?

The Church of Chicken Little – How Do We Represent the Voice of Jesus in Demanding, Divisive Times? https://t.co/mXHJQm8l5o #Jesus #Controversy #speakout

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 20, 2018

Joy Behar has Done Christians a Huge Favor – so Thank You, Joy!

Joy Behar has done Christians a favor.

She’s provided a wonderful opportunity for us to consider how we might respond to someone who accuses us of being mentally ill for holding to certain beliefs and practices based on our faith.

Ms. Behar isn’t the first person to use that idea as a punchline. I’ve heard it from people in my life.

There are some who haven’t said it aloud who clearly think it, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that our culture is moving in a direction where this is a greater line of thought society-wide. So, let’s consider ways to respond when in conversation with someone who thinks our faith is a joke or a form of mental instability.

I have a few thoughts.

First of all, just as context is important in Bible study, it’s also important when we have hard conversations like this one. What do we know about the person we’re addressing?

In Joy Behar’s case, she’s a comedian and media personality. It’s her job to get laughs and to be provocative, and she did her job on that day. She was going for the joke, but we can’t entirely dismiss her because she does impact culture.

Still, we don’t have to respond by attacking her personally because we don’t really know what goes on with her personally. I’m confident that Jesus loves Joy whether she receives that or not and He’s not any taller or shorter because of her comment. Our job is to be gracious, kind, truthful, and loving toward her even if she meant us harm.

Comments like this usually tell us more about the person saying them than they do about our faith. People can threaten our faith, but we don’t have to be threatened. Remain calm. Before you respond to the person in your life, consider their context. Settle yourself down. Remember their comment reflects on them, your response is what shapes the conversation.

Second, what feelings or worldview might motivate what this person says?

It seems in this instance, Joy enjoys getting a laugh, clearly cares about appearing savvy, “above” praying to Jesus, and mistrustful of having a leader who may not share her views. I get that. I love getting laughs. I don’t like it when people think my faith is unsophisticated.  I can resonate with being nervous about leadership who don’t share my worldview. So, we can reflect these things to the speaker.

As in, “Joy, I love getting laughs, too. Are you comfortable, though, using the faith of others as a punchline?” or “Joy, I usually appreciate your humor, but if you think our Vice-President is mentally ill, is that really funny?” or “Joy, sometimes people use humor in response to fear. It makes me nervous if someone in power over me doesn’t share my worldview. What is it about having a leader who prays that feels threatening to you?” Or, “Oprah hears from god, Joy, and I’m sure you wouldn’t consider her mentally ill, so what really concerns you about the idea that Mike Pence also hears from God?”

Rather than combat with antagonists, look for ways to converse. They’re seeking a fight, an uproar, a comeback, but we don’t have to allow those opposed to us to set the agenda for the public conversation. Jesus never did. As Christians, we need to take the “fight” to a spiritual plane (through spiritual warfare) while switching the earthly conversation to a heart-level and insightful form of outreach and reasonable dialog. (read the gospels and watch Jesus do this all the time)

Third, we can use the opportunity to prayerfully ask ourselves some hard questions.

What do I mean when I say I hear from God?

While I’m shouting about and defending prayer, when was the last time I actually spent more than five minutes praying?

How do I speak about people with worldviews that differ from mine? Do I feel it’s okay to mock or deride those who differ from me?

What does my response to what this person is saying say about me?

Why do I care what some talk show hosts believe about my faith practice?

Why do I care about looking unsophisticated? Why do I care if someone thinks I’m mentally ill?

And while we’re at it, how do we distinguish within the Body of Christ, between those who hear from Jesus and those who are “hearing voices?” I know I had several guys at my Christian college who told me God spoke to them and said we should date. I don’t know who they were hearing, but it wasn’t Jesus. So, how do we discern?

God is at work through all kinds of avenues, even network media. Sometimes He provokes His people to get us to think, to study, and to live up to our calling. The battle is real, and it begins at home.

Fourth, be grateful to those who antagonize you.

So, I’m glad Joy Behar went for the laugh. She provoked a worthwhile conversation. It’s crazy how easy it is to become lazy about my faith. Moments like this keep me sharp. It’s good to exercise this muscle. It draws me closer to Jesus and makes me more fruitful and effective for Him.

The Bible says it adds to my reward in heaven when people insult me or mock me because of Jesus and the command is to rejoice. “‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'” Matthew 5:11-12 (ESV)

Express gratitude to the people in your life who antagonize you because of your faith. Tell them how it benefits you, keeps you sharp, drives you to prayer and to study and to action.

Finally, be about the work of the kingdom and not so much about chasing controversies. Christians operate on a different matrix.

It’s harder to poke fun at people who are effectively and fruitfully ministering to the hurting and the marginalized of the world, serving the poor, caring for the sick, and interceding for protection for those in the way of harm. Let’s be those people.

When the enemy started rumors about Nehemiah and the people of God, this was Nehemiah’s response, “And I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?’” (Nehemiah 6:3 ESV)

Please, add to this conversation. How can you use this opportunity to learn, to grow, and to reach out to others?

Joy Behar has done Christians a Huge Favor – Thank you, Joy! https://t.co/335WPBP3zx responding to #JoyBehar #MikePence #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 17, 2018

Seven Ways Christians Can Act Now to Prevent the Next School Shooting

Another shooting.

Children.

A tragic young man channeling his anger through a funnel of violence. Screaming in the aftermath. Demanding answers, solutions, and action. Aiming to blame. Fumbling our way to a more secure future.

It’s becoming too familiar. The candlelight vigil. The tearful teens clutching teddy bears and texting good-bye to parents who live in fear.

I don’t know what the government should do.

I do know what the church should do. Something. We need to do something because we can. We are not helpless. We are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised we would do greater works than He. We are light in the darkness. Salt. The Body of Jesus Christ.

To yield to helplessness and hopelessness is cowardly and faithless. To look to the world for answers is to join others in building Babel. We need to hit our knees, open our Bibles, listen to the mature in our midst, and act. Now. Not on some tomorrow.

Today, I went to James 4 and found seven things:

First, we need to believe that God understands what’s going on more than we do: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” James 4:1-2

Daily, I interact with young people who feel they’re being deprived. Some are truly lacking the basics of life. Others are simply buying the world’s narrative that they’re entitled to the best and someone is withholding it, so they must find a way to take it. We can volunteer to do after school homework clubs, to mentor, to open our churches for vacation activities, to provide rides for teens without transportation and as we do, we can listen to them. We can help supply what they lack. We can have conversations about practical ways to work toward what they want. We can model ways to manage competing passions.

Second, we need to reject the lie that prayer is useless: “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” James 4:3 Prayer, intercession, petition, confession, thanksgiving, praise – these are tools for communicating with God and waging war on the spiritual plane. There’s nothing impotent about prayer except when we abandon it too quickly.

Pray for the children in your congregation. Organize prayer for your schools – not once a year, but all the time. When you meet with teens and young people, pray with them so they learn to pray. Pray with and for hurting families. Are there tough neighborhoods in your area? Walk their streets and pray for the households. Sponsor parenting groups at your church and include lessons in how to pray for your children.

Third, we must let the truth of God’s Word be evident in our lives. Be different in every way from the world: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? But he gives more grace.” James 4:4-6a

Be agents of love, patience, kindness, and hope in our communities. Seek opportunities to engage with people who are different than we are. Serve. Give. Laugh. Host meals. Celebrate regularly. Create a community where people want to belong and feel welcome. Offer to provide childcare at AA meetings or at the mental-health center. Coach sports teams. Befriend the teens who work in the places we frequent for dinner or gas or to workout. See the people we pass every day.

Fourth, stop dodging humility and acting like we have all the answers: “Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:6b-10

The church doesn’t have answers, we have Jesus. He is who we share. We don’t invite others into the academy of Christendom, but into a relationship with the God of the Universe. We seek Him together – all dependent on Him from the newest convert to the mature saint. We move forward on our knees until we’re home.

Fifth, we don’t waste energy or resources speaking against others: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” James 4:11-12

There is so much work to do, we resist wasting spirit and energy blaming, judging, gossiping, speculating, and decrying others. Period.

Sixth, we act now, as if our God commanded us to act now, because now is the gift He’s given us and we aren’t promised tomorrow: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16

Young people don’t have time for you to work out your church’s five-year plan. Their hearts ache now. Their bellies are empty now. Their feelings surge now. Be there for them NOW.

Seventh, we don’t withhold what we have to offer because we’re called to lay down our lives for others: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17

Within the church, we have creative, loving, intelligent, talented, responsible, healthy, gifted people living forgiven, redeemed lives marked by miracles, healings, and love. To withhold ourselves from our communities is sin. Find ways to serve, to love, to give.

Yes, it’s hard. But, that’s okay. Christians do hard things. Seriously, we do impossible things because we follow Jesus. So, let’s go out tomorrow and attempt impossible things and watch the kingdom advance.

Seven Ways Christians Can Act to Prevent the Next School Shooting https://t.co/VgkqkGo8H8 #FloridaShooting #Jesus #whatcanIdo

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 16, 2018

The Most Dangerous Book of Our Times

As I watched the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Olympics, I experienced a range of emotions. Awe at the creativity of humanity. Respect for the training and athleticism of the participants. Wistful hope at the sight of the two Koreas marching as one.

Sadness at the singing of Imagine by John Lennon. I love his music, but those opening lyrics don’t inspire my dreams. I don’t have to imagine people living for today as if there’s no eternal blessing or everlasting separation from God. These are those times.

How do you think the words of that song would play over the loudspeaker of a North Korean labor camp housing individuals who dared speak of their faith or treasure the Word of God?  Probably not the way they sound landing on the ears of comfortable Westerners safely tucked in luxurious homes watching screens the size of walls purchased using the philosophy of living for today.

Living for today has such different meaning in a prison camp than in an upscale neighborhood in the burbs.

During the technological artistry of the ceremonies, the announcers discussed the incredible possibilities of modern tech, but they also pointed out that it has an addictive dark side. South Korea has a “Cinderella law” aimed at curbing the gaming habits of their youth between midnight and six am. We need to be brave enough to have those same conversations about unity.

Unity has beautiful possibilities for humanity, but it has an evil underbelly as any student of history can demonstrate.

There has never been a more important time for Christians to resist complacency, to know God’s Word, and to find creative ways to inject the truth into everyday life than today.

False prophets preach from every available screen. People hear a twisted version of scripture from Grey’s Anatomy, The Handmaid’s Tale, Scandal, top 40 billboard songs, and Golden Globe awarded films to name just a few avenues of deception. I have heard four or five partial out-of-context verses from Leviticus spouted so often on prime-time television you’d think the shows were written by one tortured soul who’d been abused by an Old Testament scholar as a child.

Loved ones, it’s not enough to change the channel. It’s not enough to avoid the movies or novels or rappers or talk shows that spout this deception. Withdrawing from the conversation is like a battalion of soldiers retreating from a village of unarmed civilians leaving them to protect themselves from the enemy’s advance.

Frankly, it’s a coward’s move, and cowardice is listed first in this powerful verse from Revelation 21:8, “‘But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’” (ESV)

As a church, we must, with the power of Jesus Christ, wage war on our own cowardice and complacency regarding His Word. North Korea demonstrates a greater wisdom than we do in this. The powers behind that nation know that the Bible is the most dangerous book of our times and so they make outlaws of those who embrace its truth.

In some countries, our enemy has come against God’s Word by making it unavailable. Because that didn’t work in the free west, he found a work-around. Here, a Bible is easily obtained. No need to outlaw it because it’s being disarmed by widespread, malicious propaganda delivered through every available headphone and screen.

Let us encourage one another to boldness, to bravery, to belief demonstrated by both word and deed everyday in every way. We are the knowers of truth in the age of deception. Let us not leave those we’re called to protect defenseless in the face of enemy attack.

The media creates caricatures of Christians, of those who hold to God’s Word, of those who believe in this most dangerous of all works of literature. The only way to remain undaunted by the lie is by a steady, minute-by-minute exposure to the truth by ingesting His Word, by prayer, and by living obediently in relationship with Jesus Christ.

“We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:8b-10 ESV

Today let us take courage from the fact that since the birth of the church, followers of Jesus have not been seen clearly by those who reject Jesus.

When we became citizens of the Kingdom Come, we inherited an incognito factor. If we embrace it like a Father’s cloak, we will move more easily through our days, striving less for their understanding, and possessing greater energy to devote to loving them in Jesus’ name.

We are the true, the known, the living, the enduring, the joyful, the rich, the inheritors of all. We are those unafraid to read and to embrace the most dangerous book of our times. We are Christians.

While others aim for this world they can imagine, we will follow Him who can do more than we imagine.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

The Most Dangerous Book of Our Times https://t.co/c8R2wEzKxm how will we find courage in these days? #OlympicsOpeningCeremony #NorthKorea #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 10, 2018

Release the Doves of War

It could be that I’m still stoked from the sermon I heard two weeks ago.

It was a solid message with dynamic delivery. You know what I mean. Like the moment the pastor opens his mouth, you know you won’t be working on your weekly to-do list until after church.

He preached on Jesus cleansing the temple. At one point, I could hear the merchants yelling, lambs bleating, disciples gasping. I could smell the dung and the sweat. I could feel the panic as doves flew, livestock scattered, and moneychangers dove for their coin.

And I could imagine myself paying rapt attention to the whip-wielding rabbi authoring the uproar.

Then, this past week, another pastor friend posted a meme on Facebook that said, “If someone asks, ‘What would Jesus do?’ remind them that turning over tables and breaking out whips is a possibility.”

Made me laugh aloud.

This is all to explain why I may have been more easily tempted to anger while I was binge-watching shows I’ve heard others rave about while recovering from this flu.

I’m not normally your table-overturning kind of gal. I like a good sit-down-sermon-on-the-mount-cared-for-sparrows-and-turned-cheeks kind of approach to conflict. Half of my weight problem is that I eat in the face of discomfort – mine, yours, theirs. I’m an equal opportunity stress-eater.

But after what I’ve been witnessing, I’m ready to flip some sideboards.

From network television to cable to feature film, I witnessed a frontal assault on God’s Word. Like, talented, creative, top-shelf Hollywood writers quoting and misquoting God’s Word for the purpose of discrediting those of us who try to live by it.

The enemy means business.

These shows are garnering awards, advertising dollars, and loyal followings.

I’ve honestly been weaving a mental whip. Not for the people behind these shows, but for us, the church.

We’re the ones awake to the truth. We’re the ones He’s trusted with salvation. We’re the ones who know we’re in a war for souls.

But, we’re investing more energy in playing hall monitor for creative Christians making sure they don’t use bad words or hint that married people might enjoy sex, than we are at making sure the truth of God’s Word is proclaimed through every medium available to humankind with excellence, integrity, and inventiveness. (I believe we can do both, if we must.)

To me, it makes no sense to boycott these shows, write letters to the producers, or express outrage on social media. That’s lame. We have better weapons, I mean, tools.

We have access to the very Words of the Living God. I would suggest we fight fire with fire but once God’s Word is ignited, nothing else can be called fire in comparison.

Christians living in countries with freedom of worship, easy access to Bibles, relative prosperity, and widespread literacy have no excuse. We’re indulgent, lazy, myopic goldbricking believers if we don’t expend energy to communicate God’s Word to the world of people being fed these slick lies.

We should be consuming God’s Word, ingesting the truth, employing biblical principals on every level of our lives, and investing serious energy in incorporating it in stories, movies, art, music, theater, poetry, handcrafts, woodcrafts, and everyday life so that every soul on the planet has opportunity to encounter its power and brilliance.

To arms, loved ones. To arms. Not to attack those attacking, but to defend those in their path. Give them, at least, a fighting chance, these media-consuming fools of this generation whose only exposure to God’s Word will be these lies.

Your living room is a front-line. Your cell-phone capable of guerrilla warfare. Your local movie theater a gas chamber for unwitting souls too easily convinced that God’s Word is meaningless, archaic, contradictory, inhibiting, and irrelevant.

And we are the soldiers on duty in this hour.

I challenge us all. Christians before us erected cathedrals, crossed dangerous mountains and seas, preserved manuscripts at the cost of their lives, copied scripture word for word, painted chapel ceilings, composed requiems and arias, and wrote sermons that sparked revivals.

Christians in persecuted nations work labor camps, smuggle scraps of portions of verses, go without food or freedom to deliver the Word of God to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

What will this generation of believers do to use every avenue available to us to expose the world to the truth?

Live. Speak. Write. Paint. Give. Sing. Compose. Preach. Act. Tweet. Blog. Film. Stand-up. Weave scripture into cloth. Carve it into wood. Hire a skywriter. Send a letter to a friend. Give a card to a coworker. Wear a sandwich. Let loose some doves.

God’s Word is truth. Satan is renting billboards and writing mini-series to tempt everyone with the question, “Did God really say . . . .?”

We’re the ones who know the truth. How effective is it collecting dust on our shelves?

Release the Doves of War https://t.co/xN7IAIW2Zd what is our role in a world attacking the truth of God’s Word? #BibleStudy #Jesus #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 7, 2018

When Your Ministry and Your Influence are Too Small (or the mystery of the third pie)

It’s so easy to go wrong – well, for me it is anyway.

I’ve been thinking about ambition.

Early in life, I understood from God’s Word that I wasn’t to seek after the things of the world.

What Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” impressed me deeply. And I thought I understood what it meant, but as usual, I only got it partially right.

I knew it meant not to chase after what the world values, to leave ambition for these things on the altar of Christ. I got that.

So, Satan, seeing that I understood that much, switched up his game plan. He pulled out a less obvious temptation. Somewhere along the way, rather than abandon ambition, I simply became ambitious within the kingdom of God.

Easy enough to slip into annexing God’s kingdom with a mini-kingdom of my own, one I can justify because it’s a means of proclaiming His, right? How can I be accused of being worldly when the kingdom I’ve built by my own efforts rejects the world?

And yet, we do it all the time. We’re not even original to it in these times. The disciples argued, before Jesus died, about who among them was the greatest. They get a bad rap for this, but to their credit, I don’t see them arguing like this after they witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection.

I’ve witnessed both and yet, I take my eyes off the cross and lose my way. In proclaiming and building the kingdom of God, I also make a pet of personal ambition, taking a repeated census of the extent of my influence, my impact, my audience, my reach (in His name.) And I count it a sign of blessing when it grows, discipline when it stalls, favor when it surges, famine when it fails.

I’m not alone, I know, but I won’t make confession for you.

It’s as if the world baked a great pie. And there are multitudes vying for a piece. And when Jesus called me, I knew not to develop an appetite for that pie.

So, Satan baked another pie. It seemed humbler, this pie. Holier. And he called it, the ministry pie. And then he whispered a story to those seeking God’s kingdom that the way to build it was by getting a piece of this ministry pie – and of course, wouldn’t bigger be best for the kingdom? That’s not ambition, son, no, not at all, daughter of the Most High God. We won’t call that ambition. That’s holy fire.

But, it’s a strange fire, and not at all holy.

And some of us reached for pieces, and having tasted some, reached for more. And others, seeing their pieces were smaller than others, decided small wasn’t even enough, so they backed off completely while the rest nurtured all kinds of unholy feelings about those with larger slices, and wrestled in the dark with how this could happen when we’d rejected the world’s pie!

But, God sees Satan’s schemes better than we. He cries out from His Word with wisdom that alerts us to the truth. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” James 3:16, and “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

And when we quiet ourselves enough to listen, Jesus whispers, “Pssst, there’s a third pie.”

A third pie?

Jesus baked a pie, through His death and resurrection. Even the smallest crumb of this pie contains more life and power than the world has ever imagined. Size doesn’t matter. We know this because of the testimony of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:22-28 (ESV)

“And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” Healed instantly, by this crumb of great faith, this breadcrumb of Christ’s life, this small, small moment with Jesus.

As Christians, it is our calling, to escape every false matrix whether we call it the world, or religion, or ministry. Whatever nurtures in us some idea that we must increase so Christ’s kingdom can increase is a lie and only feeds the ambition of the part of us to which we’re trying to let die.

Instead, the kingdom of God is like this third pie, whereby the smallest crumb contains as much power as the whole, and all that matters is that we belong to Jesus and that He is alive within us.  We should pay more attention to Jesus’ cousin John who we know was called by God to prepare the way for Jesus, just as we have been. John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

So, whether our reach, our influence, is large or small, it matters not. What matters is that Christ’s influence on us increases. That His life expands within us as we and our selfish ambitions decrease.

Feeling small? Seeing others with larger slices?

Stop measuring and start dying again to the self that demands to be fed more and more pie. Instead, make more room in your soul for Jesus’ life to expand and then your life will testify to the truth that size truly doesn’t matter.

When your ministry and influence are too small (or the mystery of the third pie) https://t.co/bVusffjZNk #SizeDoesMatter #Jesus #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) February 3, 2018

The Discomfort of PDA

Isn’t it uncomfortable to witness PDA?

You know, a discreet flash of it is acceptable for most of us, but it doesn’t take long to make us squirm and wonder if the initiator might be better off expressing him or herself in private – you know, during their daily quiet time or perhaps in another church, one where such demonstrations are encouraged.

Oh, I’m sorry. That was misleading, wasn’t it? We’re actually talking about public displays of adoration.

When God brings a Bible story to my attention, twice in ten minutes, I focus. Yesterday on my drive to work, my Bible CD ended with the story from Luke 7 of the sinful woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

The CD ended with that story, and unable to reach the next one in the set, I let this one begin again. Track one played Mark 14 featuring the story of the woman in Bethany who anointed Jesus with oil before those gathered for dinner at Simon the leper’s home.

Why did God want me to meditate on these stories – the same theme twice? I love Him. I adore Him. I’ve loved Him since I was a child and He is the single aim of my life.

But, God knows me better than I know myself and so I meditated on life at fifty-six. It’s easy to become settled in what one thinks one knows about faith. It’s easy to begin to cruise. It’s natural to tune out a little, conserve energy (for what, exactly?), fade just a bit.  Is there an osteoporosis of the soul?

In these times when we’ve been warned that the love of many will grow cold, should we not all fly, face-down before Him daily for a diagnostic on our love? When Jesus spoke with Peter on the beach after His resurrection, did He ask if Peter had been obedient or did He ask Him, “Peter, do you love me?” (Which, since obedience demonstrates love is simply testing the root.)

The sinful woman who wept over Jesus created a high level of discomfort in the room with her public display of adoration. I don’t have to paint a picture because we’ve all seen it or felt it or lived it. Public adoration shakes a lot of cobwebs off our souls, because there’s almost no way to NOT react and even if we contain our reaction in ourselves, we see it and God sees it and we see God seeing it.

**Disclaimer for those looking for an out, but I warn you in love not to take it. (Now, we’re all comfortable with different levels of expressing ourselves in worship – yes. We come from various traditions, are created with different personalities, are born or adopted into a variety of cultures – yes.)

But, no one escapes the call to love.

And whether we’ve never actually felt that love or if we’ve let that love fade or if we’re at risk of our love growing cold or if we love just fine but God wants us to go deeper, He never stops nudging us to love Him more because He is love. And without love we have nothing.

And yes, love does. And yes, love acts. And yes, love is a verb. And yes, love is demonstrated through obedience. But, loved ones, love is also a feeling, an emotional outpouring, a public display of adoration.

King David was a warrior’s warrior. So much blood on the man, he wasn’t allowed to build God’s temple. But, his public display of adoration embarrassed his wife – not because of his tunic, but because her inward reaction was to recoil and this was the root of her shame. His display of love revealed her lack and rather than own it, she spit it back at him as condemnation.

Love is uncomfortable to observe from the outside. All kinds of feelings bubble up from the murky depths of our spirits that are influenced by affections, wounds, abandonments, heartaches, fears, joys, attachments, and need. When Judas observed the woman in Bethany, it sealed his betrayal. He chose greed over grace.  When the Pharisee witnessed the sinful woman weep over Jesus’ feet, his inner cynic rose to the surface and Jesus let the man know he wasn’t hiding it as much as he imagined he was.

When we witness the public display of adoration of a new believer, a young believer, a more “emotional” believer, our inner reaction is something not to dismiss or ignore.

“Peter, do you love?” John 21:16a

“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven – for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47

“Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Mark 14:9b

I write this for all of us who have walked with Jesus for years. Those of us who know His Word, who live for Him, who teach others, who are far from the moment of our conversion. Do we love Him?

Have we neatened our love and packaged it so that it is civil and presentable and contained? When was the last time our love made anyone else uncomfortable? When was the last time our expression of our love for Christ caused anyone to recoil or to react in any way?

Heed Jesus’ warning about these times, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13 ESV

Dust off your alabaster jar. Let down your hair. Talk with the only One who knows the state of your mind and soul. Read these stories and put yourself in the room with Jesus. Are you with the crowd or are you weeping at His feet?

The intent of the discomfort isn’t to shame you or to send you running, it’s to bring you to His feet where you, too, are welcome, forgiven, and deeply loved.

The answer matters, loved ones, even after decades of following Him, He still asks, “Do you love me?”

The Discomfort of PDA – how should Christians deal with PDA? https://t.co/v1ynqtALj7 does it matter? #Jesus #pda

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) January 30, 2018

Biology Theology

January is often the month we renew our commitment to care for our bodies. Joining gyms. Stepping on scales. Shopping for salad. Looking in mirrors.

This January, our body focus has been expanded as we’ve been barraged with headlines of assault, abuses of power, and violations of bodies that should never have occurred.

I propose it’s a perfect time to evaluate if our biology theology has been informed by God and sound biblical teaching or by other forces.

Are our ideas about our physical bodies intentional or a lazy default? Are we in awe of the sacred and complex gift provided by our loving Creator or are we in a constant state of conflict half-believing our bodies belong to this world while our souls and minds undergo the process of redemption without them?

Have we justified a form of self-hatred because we believe only our soul matters? Do we praise God for what functions and houses us or bitterly complain because they don’t measure up? Or are we guilty of ignoring them altogether and living lives in our heads, as if that’s more righteous than offering them as living sacrifices?

The church is missing an opportunity to be a powerful force in this culture by refusing to elaborate on a biology theology and yet, the bible doesn’t make the same mistake. God created us male and female – human flesh – body, mind, and soul – and He called it good.

He sent His Son in human form – Jesus inhabited a physical body and rose from the grave to inhabit His ascended body. He wrestled with hormones and yet, was without sin. Engaged in relationships with women, and yet demonstrated respect. His had a teaching, preaching, prophetic ministry and yet it was also one of miracles, healings, blood, bone, and spit.

God created us human – an integration of body, mind, and soul. Not souls that live inside machines. Or minds that function in flesh pods.

To understand and promote a theology that includes our bodies as well as our souls is to be a light in dark, dark times.

We’re a culture that obsesses over the human body in a thousand unhealthy ways and yet, dismisses it at the same time. The false biology theology of the world is rife with contradictions with devastating consequences.

We say a woman’s body is a sacred territory she has a right to protect from the invasion of an infant, and yet we tell her modesty is passé, casual sex is the norm, and experimentation has no consequence.

We tell men it’s evil to abuse their sexual power (and it is) and yet women send Fifty Shades of double messages by publicly crooning over Christian Grey and requesting blindfolds for Valentine’s Day.

We communicate to our young people that physical urges are so powerful, they have little hope of exercising control over them (most of our culture even suggests self-control can be hazardous) so rather than teach abstinence, we supply them with detailed instructions on foreplay and condoms, imagining that leads to healthier exchanges among youth.

And yet every single one of us who inhabits a physical body is deeply aware of the countless decisions that play into “losing control.” As a young adult, every time I engaged in sin of a sexual nature, I knew long before it happened that I was setting the stage. I could trace back to every juncture where I could have made a different decision that would move me down a path in line with biblical expectations – and so can you. “Losing control” is a back road where we park our cars after we’ve taken a long mental walk down “I’m-just-going-to-sin-a-little” lane.

We treat sex like an athletic event, where performance can be rated, and people can part unaltered from the exchange, just more relaxed. Pornography isn’t something a minority appropriate and hide in the dark – now it’s bleeding into prime time and daylight hours robbing men and women of purity, innocence, and soundness of mind. It’s no mystery why sex trafficking and child abduction occur. None.

We say sex is beautiful and powerful yet deny there’s anything holy or sacred about it. And have you noticed that the world worships science as the last word on everything but the body.

Biologically, life begins at conception, but some would have us believe that human life isn’t yet a person (unless we desire it to be, or it reaches a subjective stage, or the mother has welcomed it from the start), so disposing of it is no big thing.

Biologically, a person is born with chromosomes for one gender or the other, but biology-deniers tell us there’s a personality over-ride, that gender is fluid, and that we can’t impose biology on someone who perceives otherwise.

And while physical appetite can be altered and controlled, apparently sexual appetites and attractions are beyond our civil capabilities to manage. This is bad biology theology.

Everything from abortion to euthanasia, from sexual assault to sex outside of marriage, can be traced to a heretical biology theology.

Jesus is the author of biology. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-20

While you’re cutting calories, walking the treadmill, and shaking your head at the latest sexual harassment scandal, ask yourself what you believe about your body and from where these ideas stem. Ask your pastor to preach on God’s plan for the human body, on self-control, or on the sanctity of life.*

Ask God to show you where your mind has wandered from His thoughts about biology and to make you a light to those around you as someone who is fully alive to Christ and so, fully human, fully integrated, fully free.

(**One helpful new book for the average Christian is Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey)

Biology Theology – what do you believe about your body and why does it matter to God? https://t.co/SIiiwQxvDY #fightingheresy #Jesus #chooselife

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) January 27, 2018

When a Rooster Trumps a Raven

I wonder if that sound affected him for the rest of his life. A cock’s crow.

It’s the sound he would have heard, taken for granted even, for hundreds of mornings before that one.

As a boy, the roosters throughout his village would have greeted countless morning stars with their alarms. He may have been an eager riser, rushing from his pallet to fetch water for the household and to beg a day off from chores and Hebrew school to work the boats with his father.

Or perhaps he clung to sleep, hiding his head beneath his straw-filled pillow against the rooster’s cry until his brother nudged him from their shared mattress and dared race him to the table where their mother’s breakfast was waiting, she having risen long before the cry of the fowl.

Now, with a household of his own, surely when he was home from the sea, he would have wakened from the chill of the bed missing his wife’s warmth as she went about her morning duties, rousing their own sons to be about their chores.

Perhaps he was wont to linger there until the crowing marked the official rising of the sun and he could no longer avoid the demands of a fisherman’s day where there were nets to mend and boats to sand and skies to be watched for good omen.

All that seemed like some other man’s life by the time the cock crowed for him.

One day his brother ran to him, breathless with the news that he had found the long-awaited Messiah, the coming King, their salvation from Jehovah God.

The prophecies were given flesh, had touched his hand, slept in the bow of his boat, eaten his fish over a fire on the beach, healed his wife’s mother, walked on water and changed everything in his once predictable world by the fickle sea. And now, even the sound of a rooster in the yard meant something new.

Those Roman dogs, the iron-clad oppressors of his people, had taken the man he loved more now than a brother, the man for whom he would sail a thousand oceans and die a thousand deaths.

But on the night he was arrested, Peter learned the betrayer was one of them, one as close to the Messiah as he, one who now believed that Jesus was only a man, a sad disappointment, valuable only as a pawn in the Zealots’ game to stir up the rabble and bring down the power of Rome.

So in the bitter dark and cold of night, the fisherman was plagued by doubt.

The lives of his wife and sons suddenly so vulnerable and fragile when he imagined them thrown into a dank prison or hung upon one of their wretched splintered crosses.

And so he had faltered, stumbled in the darkened night and when the strangers in the courtyard of the prison where God’s son was being held pressed in on him, he cried out his denial and refused to acknowledge Jesus as his friend, his Savior, the long-awaited Messiah.

In fact, Peter cried, I do not know the man! Let me be. Leave me alone!

And the cock crowed. And it was done just as Jesus had said.

Denied.

Had it ended there, Peter may have found himself, like a character in poem by Poe, haunted to death by the sound of a rooster’s cry. But this was not to be their end.

For his friend, His Messiah, defeated the power of Rome and powers deeper still.

He lived again to greet Peter on another beach and share, once more, a breakfast of fish over fire. And perhaps when the rooster crowed, they exchanged a long look between them.

Peter was now His Rock, the stone on which He would build His church.

But in the moment of their glance Peter would remember his love for Jesus and the heat and shame of his betrayal would carry through the air like the sharp, disturbing cry of the cock on a cold, cold morn.

With his eyes, he would have said, “Lord, I am a sinful man. Lord, I am so, so sorry to have denied you in the very hour of your greatest need. Lord, I am not worthy of your love.”

I think that in the eyes of Jesus, though, as Peter relived that moment, acknowledged the full measure of his crime and sought forgiveness – in that moment, held in the glance of Jesus, the rooster’s crow became transformed.

As Peter found in Jesus’ eyes forgiveness and healing and no hint of condemnation, as Peter saw in Jesus’ eyes the restoration of their brotherhood, their friendship, their love, as Peter felt his heart rise with the sun, the cock’s crow was no longer the sound of Peter’s failure but once again it became the simple morning cry of the cock announcing the arrival of the morning star.

 

The sound of the rooster at dawn would forever be the sound of Peter’s world restored and yet made new in the time it takes a crowing fowl to announce his presence to the newborn day.

 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

What is the sound that marks your failure? What is the sound in your world that needs to be transformed by His forgiveness? He offers it to you. Will you receive it before the next cock’s crow?

When Does a Rooster Trump a Raven? https://t.co/CIQQFLHEHM Seeking forgiveness and beyond? #redemption #seekingforgiveness #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) January 24, 2018