Lori Stanley Roeleveld's Blog, page 6

A Different Christmas

A different Christmas.

We’re different, those of us who follow Jesus.

For a time, we might have forgotten that, but there’s no forgetting now.

Embrace the truth without complaint.

Discover the treasure hidden in being a different people, set apart, and called to a holy, unusual Way.

We celebrate a different Christmas than what others recognize as the “Christmas holiday.”

Embrace that, too.

Resist the urge to bemoan commercialization, to wear “reason for the season” buttons, or to be indignant when wished “happy holidays.”

We don’t follow the way of complaining or demanding or insisting. We follow the Way of Christ.

We follow the Way of the cross, of sacrifice, of love in the face of spit, thorns, and nails, of truth proclaimed to power and revealed to the powerless.

We follow the Way of eternal love and the freedom no one can legislate or rescind.

Let’s open our eyes to what is before us.

What is as old as the first Christmas is made new again in our generation—

that while a few will receive Jesus and welcome Him as Messiah, Redeemer, and King; others will seek to destroy Him and all who follow His Way.

Listen to the proclamation of the angels and believe that we must and can abandon fear.

Linus won’t be appearing on our TV’s any longer to deliver the news but, with the shepherds, we still hear it ring from the pages of God’s Word:

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:10-14 ESV

God is so secure in Himself—so confident of His own power, triumph, and reign that-

He came here knowing humans and devils alike would seek to destroy Him and yet He chose to arrive in the most vulnerable and human of ways.

He sent His Son because He loved the world. God is for life and all who want life will seek Him.

Every way apart from God leads to death.

Death visited shortly after Jesus’ arrival.

Herod feared a rival. He was insecure on his throne and so, he ordered the massacre of every boy two and younger to protect his power.

The world is full of people insecure on their thrones, willing to take every measure to secure whatever power they’ve amassed in this world.

That is not us.

We’ve yielded our thrones to Jesus.

We’ve abandoned the world’s power matrix and followed Jesus onto a Way others will not follow.

Let them go. Follow Jesus and don’t look back. Remember Lot’s wife.

This Christmas, when you or your loved ones are tempted to despair, to doubt, or to disengage, remember what is true.

We are loved.

We are on a path that leads to abundant life.

We celebrate Jesus’ birth. We remember His death. We live in the life of His resurrection.

We are a repentant people. A forgiven folk. A people who wear humility every day and seek to serve others as our Lord served His disciples on the very night He was betrayed.

We are gentle in a harsh world.

We study mercy but aren’t surprised when it’s not extended to us by neighbors.

We walk the path of truth beside a highway of deceit, calling to any who might hear, inviting them to abandon the way the leads only to destruction.

Our cries aren’t fueled by arrogance for we offered that at the foot of the cross.

They’re motivated by a love we couldn’t manufacture on our own but that is our inheritance in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Embed in God’s Word.

Worship with others who know Jesus.

Speak truth. Love even those who hate you. Live generously and open-handedly in this world that hoards for sport.

Resign yourself to being different.

Bathe in truth. Read Acts. Then read a gospel and read Acts again. Try a chapter of Proverbs a day followed by a chapter of Acts. Then reread a gospel. Remember who we are.

We are different but we’re not alone.

We celebrate a different Christmas. One that entered the world humbly, powerfully, lovingly, joyfully, truthfully to be with us.

He delights in us. He became one of us. He is with us.

And we are with one another.

Fear not! Celebrate well. Look to Him. He won’t abandon us now.

**Dear Readers, I invite you this season to spread the message of truth I’ve tried to represent in each book God has led me to write. Please consider buying them as gifts for the loved ones on your list. And feel free to download this FREE advent devotional, Don’t Treat Jesus Like a Baby.

Red Pen Redemption is the ideal novel for lovers of historical fiction, A Christmas Carol, and witty women. It’s a powerful afternoon read about the grace of Jesus.

Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus) is a quirky, biblical, unconventional devotional. Short chapters, powerful truths, humorously presented. Women love it but it’s also regularly appeared on the top ten Christian Men’s devotional lists on Amazon. Great for the young adult on your list, too!

Colorful Connections: 12 Questions about Race that Open Healthy Conversations and The Art of Hard Conversations: Biblical Tools for the Tough Talks that Matter offer biblical practical help for sharing faith, discussing differences, and building relationships with stories, discussion questions, and truth delivered with love. Ideal for your pastor, small group, church school, college student, or YOU!

Jesus and the Beanstalk: Overcoming Your Giants and Living a Fruitful Life is a newly revised study of 2 Peter 1:1-11 about how to grow up in Jesus and become effective in your faith. Biblical, humorous, and just a touch of fairy tale. Ideal for teens through adults who want to be effective in their faith.

A Different Christmas. https://t.co/tf2ylYtqI4 #Christmas #Christmasgifts

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) December 9, 2022

Dare to Hope, Even into the New Year. What’s the Secret to Keeping Hope Alive?

Hope can be agonizing.

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

We live in a heart sick culture.

The messages that barrage us can be discouraging to anyone holding onto hope.

It’s particularly prevalent this time of year when people consider New Year’s resolutions.

“Why bother?” Someone will say. “We won’t last past January.”

“It’s all a scam,” will say another. “People don’t change.”

And it’s true. Change is hard. Many people make the same resolution year after year and don’t see lasting success.

For example, I’ve always struggled with my weight. There’ve been times when I’ve lost a lot and reached a healthy weight. Still, I haven’t had many New Year’s when I wasn’t creating health-related goals for the months ahead.

I have other recurring struggles. Financial. Relational. Spiritual.

But, I’ve also seen successes.

It had been a goal since childhood to publish a book but that didn’t happen until I was fifty-three. This past November, I submitted the manuscript of my sixth to the publisher.

In my youth, I spent hours a week alone with my Bible, praying, and listening to God but then in my twenties and thirties, that quiet time felt elusive. By my forties, though, I couldn’t imagine a day without that time.

And after reading Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence in college, I’ve spent years mindful of Jesus more hours of the day than not.

We all wrestle with hope individually, but we also wrestle corporately.

I’ve seen that this fall as Dr. Saundra and I spoke with interviewers about our book on strategies and hope for ethnic healing.

People are not apathetic, nor are they simply weary of the topic. Rather, as a culture, we lack hope that we can make progress.

In the sixties and seventies, we were all about hope for change. We believed racism would die before the millennium. When we found it still cropping up, still wreaking havoc, still hurting us all, we grew heartsick.

But, maybe we placed too much hope in the wrong directions. Maybe we sought solutions from places our hope had no business resting.

Giving up on hope can appear to be the remedy to what ails us.

It can appear mature, sophisticated, and savvy to warn others off even attempting the work. To hope can make us look gullible, immature, or naïve.

And yet, what’s the alternative?

Should I just yield to my body’s natural proclivity toward holding onto every calorie and spend the next decades of my life growing increasingly larger?

Should we, as a people, simple accept that we’ll never do any better than we’re doing now with getting along?

Of course, not.

Here’s the secret about hope. Hope is foolish and naïve if it’s misplaced, but powerful and effective when directed to the right source.

If we believe that New Year’s is a magic starting place or that one day there’ll be a planner that cures all our bad habits or that someone else somewhere will somehow show us the way to love one another no matter what our skin color, then yes, abandon that hope. It’s misdirected and will disappoint every time.

But, don’t stop there. Instead, place your hope in the only One worthy of the audacity and agony of holding out hope—Jesus.

Psalm 33:16-18 esv says, “The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love.”

1 Peter 1:3 esv says “he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Hope placed in Jesus Christ does not disappoint.

There are times when we wait. There are times when we work. There are times when we face setbacks, warfare, and challenges that test us. But He is faithful.

It doesn’t mean we get everything we want. If that were true, I’d be a size 8 right now.

But what’s also true is that we shouldn’t aid and abet the enemy of our souls by tapping out on God. His people will live in hope.

We will do the work of loving people who don’t look like us. We will continue to try even if everyone around us abandons the work.

This doesn’t make us naïve or gullible or fools. On the contrary, the Bible identifies the fools as those who give in to scoffing, mocking, and sloth.

God warned us that in the last days, scoffers will come. They’ll try to make anyone who hopes in God feel foolish. The air will be filled with discouraging messages, like the wicked witch skywriting over The Emerald City, “Surrender, Dorothy.”

But, we will not surrender our hope to anyone but Jesus.

When we choose to hope, a hope invested in Jesus, and when we aim to try again at what the scoffers laugh and say is impossible, it’s time to remember.

Remember these words from Acts 13:41 esv, “Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

Don’t be the one scoffing.

Be the one telling of God’s amazing work.

Because, as we hope in Him, we will see Him work. We will see Jesus. We will realize our living hope in Him.

New Year’s is just another day. But today, well, today is something special. Today is what we have.

And if our hope is in Jesus, we can see change and we can be change. Right now.

Do you dare to hope even when others scoff? Even when others tap out? https://t.co/PcrPhnhIA6 #amwriting #NewYearsResolution

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) November 28, 2022

Do you dare to hope for new goals today? Looking for support? Check out my new business, Take Heart! Coaching and Freelance. I’d love to chat. Schedule a free 30-minute Do-We-Fit Session today.

When You’re Asked to Choose Between Truth and Love

I always wish I was cooler.

That desire would run my life, except that even more than wishing I was cooler, I want to follow Jesus.

I wish following Jesus provided all the answers to life’s complex questions (because, how cool would I be if I knew those answers), but in over six decades of following Him, that hasn’t been my experience.

He is the answer because everything was made by Him, and through Him, and for Him.

One of my favorite Jesus passages is Colossians 1:15-28  “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (This happens to be NKJV, but it’s an amazing passage in any translation.)

So, in this way, Jesus is the answer (just like the song we used to sing with acoustic guitar in the ’80’s.)

But, does that mean we instantly know how to vote in an election or how to respond when our child wrestles with gender dysphoria or how to keep our own faith intact when those close to us are deconstructing theirs?

Not in my experience.

And right here is where I want to say that totally cool thing that my deconstructing, skinny jean, hip preacher friends insist is true. “It’s so simple. Just love. Just love like Jesus did. And stay chill.”

But, you know I can’t.

Because sometimes Jesus loved us by telling us really hard things, by speaking truth in ways that caused people to pick up stones to throw at Him, or even to walk away.

John 6:66-69 ESV says: “ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,  and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'”

Peter didn’t say he was sticking with Jesus because “I just love you, man.” He says they have no where else to go because only Jesus had the “words of eternal life.” He was God’s Holy One.

Yes, Jesus loved the outcasts, the rejected, the sinners, and the scorned. He also loved the Pharisees but His pursuit of them sounded more like delivering truth in hard ways.

And great crowds of sinners, outcasts, the demon possessed, the rejected, and the scorned followed Jesus. These crowds cheered as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

But only days l ater, these same crowds let the Pharisees motivate them to call for Jesus’ crucifixion. They stood around and watched Him die–outcasts and Pharisees united in murderous intent.

 

And He loved them all. He died for us all. I would have been standing there, too, watching Jesus die, afraid I might be next if I open my mouth, knowing He loved me, and feeling the feeble nature of the love I offer in return.

It’s really not simple. If the truth about love was simple, God would have sent a memo, not the sixty-six books that comprise His Word to us. He’s not a frustrated English teacher, He’s God communicating great, eternal truths to people He created in love.

If the truth about love was simple, we’d be better at it.

If the truth about love was simple, we’d be loving one another every day, in every way, outcasts and Pharisees alike, rather than trying to sort one another out and decide who plays who in our modern re-enactment.

Here are a couple of things I know:

The more I listen to the talking heads of our times, the more confused I become.The moment I open God’s Word, the confusion clears. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have Jesus revealed in His Word.Never once will any of us be required by God to choose between love or truth.There is no such thing as love without truth because there’s no such thing as love that lies. There is no such thing as truth without love because deception is from the devil and there is no love in him, only counterfeits.

Yes, the disciples, the Chosen, just followed Jesus. They walked with Him. They ate, laughed, worked, and ministered with Him side-by-side. Do you know what they did next? They wrote about it. They recorded what He did and said. They recorded what happened next and they taught others what He taught them. They wrote it all down for us. In love.

And it wasn’t easy. Love sometimes meant letting people walk away, or escaping from them before they killed you for telling them the truth about Jesus’ love.

The early church was closer to Jesus and the news of the gospel than any of us is now and here’s what we know. Delivering this truth in the love of Jesus made them targets and led to suffering and sometimes (often) death.

Many came to know Jesus through their ministry. Many others picked up stones or created edicts or watered down what they were teaching to dilute it of truth or married it to a lie to lead others astray.

It’s not simple. But, it’s not impossible, either, not with God. Nothing is impossible with God. Not even the inseparable nature of truth and love.

Have you been asked which is more important: Love or Truth? Watch out. https://t.co/f4h4f2rMdy God never makes us choose. #amwriting #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) November 22, 2022

Why We Need More Tension, Not Less

People are tired.

I hear it everywhere.

There is a weariness we can’t shake.

One lovely women’s event coordinator told me,

“My ladies are stressed and weary. We probably need to hear about hard conversations and racial healing, but we honestly can’t take it. Can you bring us something light and funny?”

I get it.

I’ve experienced it—that fatigue that remains after naps, long nights of sleep, and vacation time. The stress no bath, no break, no app seems to address.

And yet, we continue to nap, even when it’s ineffective against this kind of tired.

We continue to seek escape, even knowing that so far, it hasn’t remedied whatever has drained our resources.

Allow me to suggest that what we need in our lives is increased tension.

Tension has gotten a bad rap lately.

There are situations and conditions that require tension.

Scissors, sails, and stories all need tension to function optimally. Clotheslines and tightropes would fail without tension. So would the function of tendons and ligaments.

The right amount of tension is necessary for opening jars and for functioning cars—all kinds of belts and widgets require tension to work the right way—to be effectual.

So, do we.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he cited the necessity of increased tension through nonviolent protest in order to bring about effective and lasting justice.

There are systems and processes that require tension to work.

It is a myth that we are held together by constant peace. Jesus holds all things together and sometimes, to do that, He increases the tension.

Ask the Pharisees. They felt it. They heard it.

Much of the weariness we’re feeling has its root, not in actual physical fatigue, but in the discouragement that accompanies ineffectual outcomes of our faith.

So, in this case, the answer isn’t more rest and escape.

It’s to stand and experience increased tension—the kind that leads to effectual ministry.

When my dad had partial-knee replacement surgery, and again when he had spinal surgery, the medical staff had him up and moving almost immediately each time.

It was tense. It was initially exhausting. He needed support.

But it was the right course of action for restoring him to fully functioning health.

If, instead, he’d been encouraged to lie in bed, unmoving, until he felt better, it might have been weeks or months before he saw any progress, if ever.

We must stop encouraging believers to seek refuge in pursuits that aren’t soul-restorative.

We must go to God’s Word and put to practice what we read there.

If we look into the wrong mirror or seek the wrong counselor, we can be misled about the remedy for what ails us.

The only reliable mirror is God’s Word.

We are to seek refuge and rest in Jesus, but sometimes that means speaking out for the truth of racial reconciliation

Or feeling the tension of confronting a brother on abuse

Or going deeper into a relationship at church that was perfectly comfortable with surface interaction but requires more beyond that.

Or asking the hard question.

Or living the gospel before people who outright hate it.

By remaining silent, complacent, comfortable, relentlessly comforted, and safe, we allow muscles of courage and faith to atrophy from misuse.

We can be so movie-streaming minded we’re no earthly good.

We can shelter in place so long, we become spiritually agoraphobic.

The Body of Christ needs to move. To rise up from its comfortable bed and feel the tension of doing the work that leads to effective and restorative healing.

Laughter is a gift from God, but not if it’s an escape.

Rest is a gift, too,

but if we use it as an excuse to avoid the tension of being the church and representing the Jesus whose words created so much tension that they killed Him, then we’re not enjoying Sabbath, we’re hiding.

Want to experience renewed vigor, energy for the work, and restored zeal for Christ?

Pick up your mat and walk in His ways.

It’s time to increase the tension.

If you’re avoiding the tension of hard conversations, I can help.

If you’re interested in making an effective contribution to relationships between people of different skin colors, I can help there, too.

Reach out. Let’s talk. I have books, talks, resources, and support.

It's time to increase the tension. https://t.co/TZ8X3GTwNJ #amwriting #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) November 17, 2022

How to Survive Our Country This Week

What do we do with someone else’s pain?

Especially when it leads them to direct their anger towards us.

Trauma and open wounds can lead people to toss the baby out with the bathwater, but what if that baby came to save? What if we represent that baby?

Days before another election and it feels like the country’s on fire. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the pew, right?

No, that’s crazy. That’s not even close to the answer but that seems to be the choice many are making.

Desert ship. Burn the bridge. Walk away. Change your name. Renounce your affiliation. Save yourself.

Only we can’t.

Save ourselves. I mean, seriously, look at where we are.

Besides, it’s not that simple. Even if you tell yourself you’re only walking away from a name.

Change what people call you and what then? A name change only gives you an alias. It’s not really a transformation.

I’ve never known what to call myself.

Coming to Jesus in the sixties and being a teen in the seventies, I was just a Jesus girl, then a Jesus-follower once “girl” sounded like I couldn’t let go of my youth.

In my twenties, someone told me we were evangelicals. I’d never heard the word, but Rev. Graham and Rev. King were Baptist and evangelical, so that seemed okay. I like Jesus-follower better but, whatever.

I grew up in the tension between the “spread the gospel” of Graham and “the gospel spreads justice” of MLK. It made sense to me that both are true. Jesus changes everything.

But my church was Baptist in the North. I didn’t have the whole picture, really.

I wasn’t committed to any name but Jesus. Call me anything you want, I thought, but don’t call me late for potluck.

Words have a way of morphing, though, evolving with meanings that others apply.

Words for what I am are being ascribed new meaning, setting other people’s kindling ablaze, still, I’m feeling the heat.

I was disinvited from a place I’d earned my keep with the word “evangelical” thrown at me like a Molotov cocktail. Apparently, they don’t want anyone who fits that description there.

Is that what I am, though?

Seriously, still just a Jesus girl. I never signed up for a movement.

I follow an ancient Way with modern application—not a system of politics, not a club where people of color are not allowed. All are welcome, in the name of Jesus, not the name of any president or preacher or politician.

But the people who disinvited me didn’t really care to see me.

I represented something they hate right now. Whether I actually represent that or not didn’t matter.

Hate can blind a person to what is right in front of them. Fear does that, too.

Then last week, a woman posted on social media about a conference we’d both attended a few years back. She’d worshiped with the rest of us, but apparently, she experienced the worship as false.

She never was “one of them,” she said.

She stated, though, that none of us meant a word we sang. She knew that because we were white. She believes there is no hope for the “white evangelical church,” whatever that is.

No hope of repentance, forgiveness, restoration. No hope.

Complete condemnation.

And I have two thoughts at once: I meant what I was singing. I cannot fully appreciate the depths of her pain.

If I feel misunderstood in this moment, she has felt misunderstood her entire life. If I feel labeled by my color in this moment, that has been her greater experience.

I believe in generational trauma. I believe there is systemic evil perpetrated by Satan. I also believe the hope of Christ can overcome it all. But He hasn’t yet.

I can tell she doesn’t want me to bear her pain. She wants me to feel it. And then walk away.

She has disavowed any affiliation with me and my whiteness and my evangelical-ness.

And I want to be part of the solution, but I can’t walk out of my own skin.

Besides that, it’s the skin my Father chose for me so I don’t feel guilty about the color of it any more than I feel guilty for having a beating heart, one that can be broken.

I could easily ditch this evangelical title. I know many who have. Cast it off like out-of-fashion jeans or a T-shirt we’ve outgrown.

I’ve always, only, really been a Jesus-girl anyway.

But how does that help my sister (who I know doesn’t want to be my sister)? How does that serve her pain? How does that bind her wounds? How does that heal?

A Jesus-follower by any other name will still be hated and feared by some, misunderstood by others, and called to love no matter what.

I can acknowledge part of what she’s saying.

Not every white evangelical Baptist is a Jesus-person at heart.

Some have secretly embraced systemic evil and immersed themselves in hatred like a strange baptism that says Jesus doesn’t save people who don’t look like them.

Jesus said that His enemy would send wolves disguised among us sheep. I believe Him. I’ve met them.

They create havoc, but they aren’t Jesus-people. They are counterfeit sheep. But that’s the evil part because the real pain they cause has a false association with Jesus and the church.

Their evil has hurt my brothers and sisters of color. I see their pain. I won’t try to tell them how to heal.

It hurts the rest of us, too, because if one part of the body hurts, we all do.

I can hear what this woman is saying, and I can know that I meant what I was singing, and I can acknowledge her pain and I can still believe in hope for every sinner, and I can live in the tension of all these things.

So can she, if she chooses.

We don’t have to fight.

We do have to work.

We do have to speak and hear truth.

We do have to repent and weep and confront evil and renounce wolves and bind wounds and mean what we sing and keep loving people even as they walk away.

We can live in the tension of loving Jesus and sticking with His people even knowing some will prove false and we face adversaries from within and without and we need to repent daily and do hard things.

This is our calling in our days, and these are the days we’ve been given to be His people.

He chose us to represent Him in our times. We are assigned to this, and we were designed for this.

Don’t worry about the names we’re being called, worry about what He’s called us to be and ask for the power to be all that.

Love people truthfully. Speak truth lovingly.

Save your anger and energy for the forces trying to keep us apart—away from the only One who saves.

Look toward the day when all our dreams will be realized in Him.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,  and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

Stop waiting for the work to get easier. It will never be easier to live the gospel of Jesus Christ than it is today.

How will we ever survive #Election2022 https://t.co/k595chbPU5 #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) November 1, 2022

The Passive Idolatry that Renders Us Silent

Why do we remain silent?

Why do Jesus-loving people clam up about deeply held truth?

Why are we not talking about all God is, all He does, and the stakes of not choosing Jesus in most conversations?

Why do we stay quiet, hoping someone else will speak or hoping our lives will do all the talking when we know

Of all His creations, God gifted us with the spoken wordWe are created to speak about God, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” 1 Peter 2:9.He is worthyThere is no other way to God, to eternal life, to salvation, except through Jesus and many people still don’t know that.

Why remain silent, indeed?

God has been marrying two thoughts about this in my mind. I don’t like these thoughts. They are uncomfortable thoughts that require me to change my ways, to repent.

But now that I see the connection through Scripture, I can’t look away.

The first thought is this: idols are silent.

 Idols don’t speak. Our God speaks.

Psalm 115:4-8 says, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

People who trust in idols become silent like those idols.

Our God speaks. He is the Word, the Living Word.

Our God communicates. He made us in His image. So, even if we’re living Godly lives of integrity—to represent God fully, we must sometimes use words.

When we find ourselves silencing ourselves when we know we should speak, I believe it can be a sign that we’ve slipped into idolatry.

Perhaps we’re venerating the idol of comfort and convenience.

It’s neither comfortable nor convenient to speak about Jesus these days. It requires an investment of thought and planning on our part. It may require time or study. It may cause discomfort in others, and they may communicate this discomfort to us.

And yet, if we seek comfort in silence rather than in the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) then we have slipped into idolatry.

Maybe we’re bowing to the idol of being acceptable and liked, of pleasing people.

I’ve been reading the Book of Matthew. Again and again, he mentions that the religious rulers were “afraid of the people.”

We like being liked. That’s natural. It’s human.

But we also willingly accept the lie that we need the power of being liked and accepted to share the gospel. The early church demonstrated that’s not true.

They were arrested, beaten, run out of synagogues, run out of towns, and most of them were eventually martyred. But we’re here today because they loved truth more than they desired being acceptable and liked.

“Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” John 12:42-43.

Some of us may seek shelter under the idol of safety.

It’s not always safe in our times to speak biblical truth. It can cost us social contacts, jobs, sometimes financial gain, and in parts of the world, it can cost a person their life.

So, we run to silence believing it will save us. We fear being hurt—emotionally, socially, financially, physically, or by reputation.

But we already know decisions made from fear lead us to idolatry.

Allow me to let you in on a secret—we’re going to get hurt anyway. The world is a hurtful place. Better to be hurt speaking truth than hiding inside the faulty protective gear of silence.

Paul wrote this in 2 Timothy 4:18: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

If we believe in God, we must also believe God.

Do we believe God? Jesus told us how to rightly order our fears.

Jesus said:

“‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows’” Luke 12:4-7.

If we believe Him, we fear (trust, respect, worship, obey) Him alone.

There is a time for everything, including a time to be silent, but the pandemic of silence the church has currently embraced is not representative of those who came before us.

When Peter and John were arrested and warned not to speak any longer about Jesus, they defied that order, fearing God more than the religious authorities of the day.

They gathered with the early church and prayed, not for safety nor deliverance but for boldness.

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” Acts 4:29.

Beware of remaining silent. It’s not the shelter we believe it to be. Sometimes it’s an idol that cannot deliver what we need.

It will never be easier to speak biblical truth and to share the gospel than it is today.

All for Jesus–including our words.

What is the passive idolatry that keeps Christians silent when we should speak? https://t.co/wYKsWAeViX #amwriting #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 26, 2022

Should You Receive Special Treatment?

I was traveling back from a speaking engagement when I was upgraded to first class.

That was my first experience in first class, and I imagine it’s my last.

I won’t lie. It was nice having leg room and deferential service.

And I just rolled my eyes when one of the last passengers to board muttered something in my general direction like, “I hope you all choke on your special first-class treats, you privileged snobs!”

My luxury accommodations lasted only a little more than two hours before I touched down and reverted to my usual economy self for the connection home.

Seated across from me on that connection was a U.S. congressman.

No doubt he flew economy to make a point to fellow constituents about being one of them and not wasting taxpayer money.

(And maybe to avoid comments like the one made by the snarky passenger on my first flight.)

On my next speaking jaunt, my boarding pass was numbered among those who board the plane at the very end of the line.

I waited as all those with priority passes, first class, or special accommodations boarded.

Then, dozens of others ranked higher on their boarding tickets lined up and I just knew my carry on was not going to find a place in any of the bins.

It didn’t.

My seat was in row 28. I closed my eyes and recalled my lovely first-class legroom two weeks earlier. Wistfully, I will confess.

Then, I opened my Bible app to Matthew 3.

As the chapter opens, we meet John the Baptist (“Scary John”, for you Chosen fans).

Among other things, he’s railing at the religious leaders of the day.

As John baptizes repentant sinners, he accuses the Pharisees and Sadducees of faking their faith, of hypocrisy, of not bearing good fruit and being at risk of eternal fire.

I just love that guy.

Special treatment is like oxygen for Pharisees and Sadducees.

John’s giving them special treatment but not the kind they’re accustomed to receiving.

Then, Jesus comes to John to be baptized.

But Scary John, instead of immediately immersing his cousin, first tries to upgrade Jesus to first-class.

“John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’” (v. 14)

Jesus, though, understood more than all of us about how the universe works (since it was all created by Him, through Him, and for Him, that makes sense.)

“But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (v. 15)

But, why?

Wouldn’t some people misunderstand and think He was repenting of sin?

Wouldn’t some people wonder if he was submitting to John and so John was more important than He was?

What would the religious leaders think if the One on the verge of announcing He is Messiah lined up for baptism like everyone else?

None of that mattered to Jesus.

Obedience to the Father mattered to Jesus. That’s all.

Complete trust in God. Complete faith in His plan. Surrender to His will in all things.

No special treatment.

This moment was going to be the sign for John that Jesus was the One. Following His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. That was how John knew.

John then said, “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34)

Clearly, I find many reasons to be impressed with Jesus.

But what often stands out to me as impressive is that He always knew who He was and what He was here to do.

No matter who was looking.

No matter who was tempting.

No matter how hard the way.

Jesus always was His Father’s Son sent to do His will. And that required the humility to decline special treatment.

Crucifixion, in fact, was the opposite of special treatment and He surrendered to it for our sake.

One day, if I have opportunity to slip into a first-class seat again, I’m not going to lie. I probably will.

But, that’s not really what this post is about.

In the meantime, I’m going to ask Jesus to show me how He did that. Walk through this world and not look for special treatment. Walk in our shoes and keep His eyes, His heart, His obedience focused on our Father.

Serve those who will one day nail Him to a tree. Serve them in love. Real love.

I want that attitude from the inside out. I want that humility. That security in God. That willingness to obey.

No matter what number is on my boarding pass.

**Did you know that Jesus and the Beanstalk has a had a revision and a facelift? It’s been streamlined and updated with new material but all still focused on the message of spiritual growth in 2 Peter 1:1-11. It’s a great time to put it on your Christmas list for you or for those you love who enjoy growing up in Jesus!

Should you receive special treatment? https://t.co/lfu3iyh0xe #JohntheBaptist #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 19, 2022

You will be Permanently Excluded, Uninvited, Left Out.

We can be stubborn about receiving truth we don’t want to hear.

Doctors must tell surviving family, “You’re loved one has died.”

Avoiding euphemisms is crucial because in the moment, the mind grasps at any heartbeat of hope. Presenting a vague truth is cruel and delays acceptance of what is real.

Jesus-followers must speak truth. We must not withhold it. We cannot be cruel.

We must be relentless in our commitment to truth. Even hard truth. Because people we love are at risk of dying—forever.

And they will grasp at any counterfeit hope that drops from the compartment above them to keep their vague notions of afterlife for everyone afloat, even if what is being pumped into their masks isn’t oxygen after all.

In Jesus’ final days, He spoke hard truths clearly. Time was short and He loved the people who were listening.

He also loved the ones who weren’t.

If the religious leaders of His time had had Facebook, their relationship status with Jesus would have read, “It’s complicated.”

It didn’t have to be.

All their lives, they’d waited for Messiah.

They studied the Torah. They lived the Torah. They taught the Torah. If only they’d believed the Torah.

Instead, the focus of all their hopes stood in front of them and they plotted ways to end His life.

Most people like to give others the benefit of the doubt.

They like to believe that in troubled relationships, there are always two sides.

There are always two sides but sometimes one side is lying—or deceiving even themselves.

In my experience, sometimes when there’s smoke—there’s a smoke machine.

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes—the leaders of Israel—were missing the Messiah. Not only were they missing Him, but they resented Him because He pulled back the curtain that exposed their Oz-ness as so much smoke and mirrors.

They liked looking in mirrors, but only mirrors that flattered them. Mirrors that hid their flaws, softened their lines, and reinforced how they saw themselves.

The mirror Jesus was holding didn’t flatter, soften, or reinforce their comfort. It reflected the truth.

So, they refused to look any longer and decided, instead, to kill Him and bury the ugliness within the mirror in a tomb, sealed so no one would ever find it again.

We still try to do that.

The Pharisee in our souls clings to the righteousness we’ve created for ourselves like Gollum’s ring, “My precious.”

It isn’t filthy rags, no! It can’t be. I’ve worked hard at being good. I’ll get credit for that. Why wouldn’t I? This Son of God offends me. I will stop listening and wrap my own righteousness around me like a shield against Him.

Jesus was on to them. And to us. He knew (and knows) what was coming just down the road.

Even still. He knew a greater truth. One that would extend further into time than any of them (or us) could imagine. And so, He began to say things clearly.

We love studying the Sermon on the Mount. We’re happy to spend hours in those chapters of Matthew.

But then we skulk past Matthew 21-25 afraid we’ll wake the sleeping giant of truth and have to decide about Jesus NOW.

He made His triumphal entry and was greeted like the king He is. Then, He fashioned a whip and cleansed the temple.

Cursed a fig tree.

Told stories with unhappy endings and words we refuse to hear, even now. Read the verses listed below this post. Uncomfortable truth from Jesus.

But if we represent Him, we must represent ALL of Him.

Jesus’ Words, gentle or firm, are the overflow of a heart “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9b

Some will perish. Know this because Jesus warned us.

When we have spent all our persuasive, kind, gentle words on wandering souls.

When we have exercised patience, demonstrated power, performed miraculous acts of love, and provided all they need.

When they continue to ignore our warning that they are heading into danger, we must employ plain words that speak of irreparable consequences, hoping that at last, they will listen.

There will come a day when people will be permanently excluded, uninvited, left out from everything that is loving, good, merciful, beautiful, kind, holy, refreshing, righteous, and desirable for life.

They will be shut away from God forever.

Will we appeal to them by every means as Jesus did?

Or will we be standing on that day still clutching the truth to our chest so afraid to upset people that we refuse to love them like Jesus loved?

It’s not a question I want left hanging. How about you?

 

“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Matthew 21:43-44“Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:13-14“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” Matthew 23:13“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate.” Matthew 23:37-38“The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:50-51“And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’” Matthew 25:10-12“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:46

Have we exhausted every resource so that no one will be left out, shut out, cut off from all beauty, light, and life? Why not? https://t.co/Ec8wEYWQ1R #amwriting #hardtruth

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 13, 2022

Could I invite you, dear reader, to visit my new business website, Take Heart Coaching and Freelance and share it with your friends? Thank you! I knew I could count on you!

Hidden Dangers Fueling Hate that You can Solve with Belonging

I confess, I love airports and hotels.

Here’s why.

I’ve always struggled to feel as though I belong. My soul is pockmarked from feeling, as a youth, I didn’t belong in my family, school, or community.

So, I love airports and hotels because everyone there knows for sure they belong.

A room key. A boarding pass. And voilà! Instant belonging.

Silly, I know, but that’s how much I enjoy belonging.

You’re no different.

God created every human with an intense desire to belong because there is a place for us, and He wants us to seek it.

My youth was saved by the loving Jesus-followers at the local Baptist church.

Even when I annoyed them, barraged them with questions, needed rides, went through awkward stages, or challenged traditions. I belonged. Because I belonged to Jesus.

Understanding that every person is hard-wired to desire belonging helps make sense of many wrong roads and much organized evil.

Young men crave belonging.

When they don’t find it in healthy places—they’re susceptible to nefarious groups.

Hate groups, gangs, Internet terrorist organizations, agenda-laden lost souls, shadow clubs meeting in dark chat rooms or moderated platforms offer belonging, companionship, and the illusion of purpose. Even as they destroy lives.

They provide challenges, tests, and rituals that become the room keys and boarding passes these young men seek to earn the belonging they yearn to experience.

Young women crave belonging.

When they don’t find it in healthy places—they’re susceptible to traffickers, abusers, advertisers, and self-remedies that lead to destructive tunnels of ever-cycling pain.

Adults crave belonging.

When we don’t find it in healthy places, we’re susceptible to divisions or strict delineations according to physical, ethnic, economic, political, or thought standards. We define through difference and create hardened lines that become idols because they create a sense of belonging.

Here’s where we come in.

You and I, Jesus-followers who know God and His Word, WE KNOW WHERE PEOPLE FIND BELONGING.

We know there is a family they were designed to join.

— a feast and a seat at the table for them.

— a place, a purpose, a people just waiting.

—They belong, and we hold the key—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we invite them into the family of faith and don’t water it down but present it with all the truth, challenge, purpose, and power inherent in the Jesus-following life—they escape the matrix of division and hate.

Into unity.

—community.

—reconciliation with God and others.

—relationship with the God who created them and knows everything they were designed to be.

No longer haters—loners— shooters— cutters— discriminators— terrorists—sex slaves—disengaged—gang-bangers— oppressors— dictators— power-seeking, suit-wearing thugs.

We have the power in Christ to make a difference. To let the Chosen know that they are-chosen.

One traveler at a time.

One person seeking belonging wondering where it waits.

One individual looking for their place tag at the great feast.

We know the way.

And the light grows every time one finds it.

Hidden Dangers Fueling Hate that You can Solve with Belonging – https://t.co/gkIi6btFZY Wondering where you belong? I know. #amwriting #Faith

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 5, 2022

I Know We’re All Tired — But . . .

We’re tired.

We. Are. Tired.

As if we all have long-Covid, the spiritual edition.

2020 knocked us down. 2021 pummeled us some more. 2022—well, we stopped paying attention, really.

We got on with it. You know, our lives.

We gathered. We did all the things. Well, not all the things. We aimed at the light stuff. Avoided the challenging, serious things if we could. We weren’t up for that.

But, we were confident we’d get our oomph back if we just spent some time laughing in the sun.

I don’t mean to be dramatic, but we need to be careful right now. It’s one thing to take time to rest and recover.

It’s another thing entirely to fall asleep in the poppies.

“‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:14-17 esv

Those words were written to us.

God provides rest but our enemy induces lethargy, inertia, stagnation, torpor, dullness, disinterest, apathy.

It can be hard to distinguish from everyday weariness, but one mark is that it lingers. It lingers after we’ve rested, vacationed, celebrated, and even after we’ve fasted from the news.

It clings like stale smoke from yesterday’s campfire, leaving that gritty irritation in our eyes.

We hear ourselves telling others—again—that we’re just tired. Listlessness invades our worship, our devotion, our prayers.

We “quiet quit” on God. Still showing our faces, but we’re not really there.

I love you, dear readers, I really do, but allow me to rain on your life a little with this post. Allow my words to fall like cool water that clears the scent of the poppies from your foggy soul and rouses you, awakens your heart.

It’s a trap and we’re falling prey.

Like you, I’m shaking my head, trying to clear it, trying to open my eyes, but I can’t. I just can’t.

True. But, Jesus can.

Again, not to put too fine a point on it but our enemy plays the long game, and he has set the world stage for a great falling away from the faith. He has knocked us off our pins and kept us down each time we tried to rise until some have stopped trying.

But, “greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

There’s nothing to do but ask. Drag your weary soul to Jesus and ask, please help me awaken to You again.

Persist in prayer and don’t rise until He’s wiped the dullness from your spirit like steam off a morning mirror.

We’re not virtual any longer. This is real.

And all that we thought was far distant prophecy is unfolding in our lives.

Be present for it. Awake. Ready.

You matter. Your presence is requested—bring your heart.

**I didn’t think I had anything to say about skin color. Dr. Saundra didn’t think she had anything to write, either. Together, we realized we had a shared message. No guilt. Just hope. And a way forward. I invite you to check out our new book and awaken to hope again. It’s not about race-it’s about the gospel.

What’s the difference between taking a rest and falling asleep in the poppies? It matters. Find out today at the blog https://t.co/zZq57OGUM8 #amwriting #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) September 30, 2022