Lori Stanley Roeleveld's Blog, page 8
July 6, 2022
Faith and Life–It’s Complicated
Spare me your tweets and memes. Truth matters but so does delivery of truth. Ask Jesus.
Fans of social media.
Divisive people.
Evil forces.
What do they have in common?
They like to create camps and convince people there are only two choices on every issue impacting humans and society—and we all must choose one now. Our choices, they demand, divide us into those two camps, and we must never stray or suggest there is any nuance or complexity to be explored. In fact, what is most important to say, they contend, can be said in a meme—a tweet—a soundbite.
It’s a lie.
The truth is, there is often a world of biblical options—a third, fourth, maybe a tenth but that doesn’t fit neatly in a tweet or clever meme.
Here’s what faith and life have in common—they were simple and straightforward until sin entered the world. Now, they’re complex.
How do we know great truth is complex? Because Jesus didn’t send us a bumper sticker but a Bible. It’s an extensive, rich, multi-layered work of Holy Spirit-inspired literature that changes lives and
transforms hearts. It isn’t consumed in a single click but is meant to be ingested over a lifetime.
We know God didn’t think redemption was as simple as educating, training, disciplining, or rewarding a soul. We know this because He sent His only Son to show us how to live and then die on the cross in our place before raising Him from the dead to live forever. That’s a drastic move full of complexity, worth contemplating for a lifetime.
We know this because we are changed when we enter a relationship with Jesus but over a lifetime, we experience transformation one truth at a time—truth in our innermost being. There’s nothing simple about that.
If your faith and life are simple, easy, and create beliefs that fit easily on a meme, then you’re just not paying attention.
Yes, the truth is that we must choose to worship Christ or be separated forever from God. There is no third option for salvation. But, God is at work in us in a million ways and we must treat one another with kindness, gentleness, and self-control as we speak this truth into one another’s lives.
Yes, the truth is that life is precious and needs to be protected in the womb, but don’t think tweeting about it is the answer. Sit with a young woman raised in a culture that demands she insist on her rights and let nothing interfere with her goals or she’s failing all those who came before. Listen to her confusion about abortion with the compassion Jesus had and discuss your convictions confidently but with humility and gentleness.
Yes, it’s true that no one should force their religious beliefs on anyone else, but don’t stick that in a meme. Instead, sit with a young man who survived his mother’s botched attempt to abort him and ask him about the impact of the public debate, the posters, the rhetoric on his soul.
Yes, the culture is straying from God and young people are leaving the church in droves. Don’t just update your status with a wagging finger. Instead, invite some young adults to your home and ask about their lives. Listen to their experiences with Christians and the understanding they have of Jesus from what they’ve heard. Listen and speak with gentleness and humility.
Yes, the church has gotten a lot wrong. Yes, there have been some breathtakingly awful public scandals and failures. But before you rant against your brothers and sisters online, sit with a woman whose life and marriage and children were transformed when an imperfect Christian businessman shared the gospel using a tract with her alcoholic husband and attended AA meetings with him for two years.
Yes, the Bible condemns homosexual behavior but instead of railing against the pride rainbow on your social media wall, sit with the mother in your congregation who prays every night for her son. She would love to invite him and his husband to church but she worries that rejection or a sermon on homosexuality would send him running from God. Get into this with her, not with cliché and pat answers but with a heart that beats like hers for these two young men she loves. Explore and honor the pain experienced at the intersection of love and truth as Jesus did on the cross.
Yes, sometimes the church communicates in legalistic ways and some messages are delivered with unyielding defiance of cultural norms. But, rather than update your status with all the ways the church should change, sit with a young woman who was delivered from a homosexual life by the same message that sent another running for the doors.
When we know God, we know His truth and His law is good, true, and unchanging. We also know He is full of compassion. We know He didn’t run after people who ran from Him or change the truth depending on the person in front of Him. But we also know His love is relentless and waiting at the top of the road like the father of the prodigal son.
Life and faith—it’s complicated.
Modern culture and social media tempt us to skim across the surface of life and faith. We think it takes courage to retweet someone else’s meme or to “like” a status on Facebook. It
stretches the imagine to believe Jesus died on the cross so that we would have the courage to click.
Jesus left His throne and became one of us. He offered a face-to-face, sit across the dinner table, face the stones with the adulterous woman kind of love. He delivered hard truth in person. You can respect a God like that.
He could have come today and done it through a Messianic blog but instead, He came to a time of grimy feet and dusty robes, of fish and loaves, of Pharisees and droves of oppressed souls longing not for a message but for a man who was God made flesh.
And He lives in us. We’re supposed to be free to do more, not less.
So, spare me your memes. Delete your tweets. Get out from behind your finger click and invite someone who disagrees with you to share a meal. That’s when you’ll see God at work changing the world—starting with yours.
Wait? You don’t know any of these people I’ve listed? You don’t know anyone who disagrees with you? Wow. Get with Jesus and listen to His directions. He’ll guide you in the right direction.
**Dear Reader, have you experienced a setback, obstacle, or challenge in pursuit of your God-given purpose? Here a free download for you of 7 Steps to Overcoming a Setback. It includes scriptures, journaling space, and prayers as you move through the 7 steps. Need more one-on-one support? In the climb of your life, you deserve an experienced guide. Check out my coaching and email me to schedule a free “Do-We-Fit” session. Even if we don’t decide to continue coaching, we’ll work out your next step in this session.
Faith and Life-It's Complicated Let's cut the memes for complex issues and return to face-to-face conversations. https://t.co/lck6qvs7ye #Jesus #faith
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) July 6, 2022
June 15, 2022
God and Guns and Idols Revealed in the Aftermath
In the wake of tragedies like the deaths in Uvalde, Texas, people talk. They throw lots and lots of words at the pain, mostly because that caliber of pain cries out for answers. The crying out part is biblical.
When Cain murdered his brother Abel, God told Cain: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10 ESV)
In Genesis 9, when Noah and his family emerged from the ark, God told Noah, “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.”
The outcry of the blood of those lost in the tragedy and the need for a reckoning is as ancient as humanity. Of course, we must consider what must change. Of course.
But understand this, the immediate scramble for answers reveals our shared idols. Let’s not miss that part. What is the first place we looked for salvation from this shooting? Was it our politicians and legal authority? Was it mental health providers and pharmaceutical salvos? Was it educators? Security and alarm systems? Hollywood? Video games? Media? First responders?
None of those things are bad when viewed in the right perspective. But elevated to the place of ultimate protection from evil turns the dial beyond what these agencies and ideals were designed to provide.
When the Psalmist wrote Psalm 121, the hills around him were places of idol worship. Altars and poles were erected on the high places for worship of false gods. This is the context of his opening
words, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (vs1-2).
The Psalmist is facing trouble and all about him are the places that others seek answers. He redirects his eyes to the One True God for help. And so must we.
That doesn’t mean that part of our response to societal problems doesn’t involve new laws or political influence, changes in mental health, new security measures, or new increased training for first responders. But where we turn first, where we find wisdom, from where we draw strength, comfort, and direction makes all the difference. Reflection on our gut reaction is instructive to areas where repentance and change will bear better fruit.
As we lay down our idols and turn toward God, some of those things we broke or twisted by making them into gods, suddenly become useful tools when rightly perceived as instruments, not superpowers against all evil. This isn’t Gotham city and the mayor doesn’t have a beacon to elicit help from a mythical hero.
In the aftermath and the fallout, there are reasons to believe this horrific event was a perfect storm of multi-system failures in our society. There is no single answer. There is no solitary solution. But that doesn’t mean we sit back and wait for the next gunman.
Those outside the church will go about their process and they are free to do that. Let them stake their poles on all the high hills. Jesus-followers, though, must seek Him first.
“‘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 4:6-10 ESV
In this, we can all make a difference. When there is a clear and evident societal failure, the church must take responsibility for failing to be salt and light. Every believer in that culture must consider James’ words and seek God. Then, wisdom from on high enters our souls, our thinking, and our words. It informs our decisions and actions. We become more effective advocates for the right change.
And God may surprise us. He sees what we don’t. He knows what part each of us can play. We have more power than we realize when we rightly place God above all other idols.
He sees every solitary gunman currently listening to the wrong voices, quietly planning the next disaster, and silently eluding every alert system we currently have in place. God sees. And we are God’s people. More reason to consider pauses in our words to listen and really hear what He is saying even if your home is miles from Uvalde. Your neighbor may be at the epicenter of the next headline and God may have already tried to get your attention.
God approached Cain and this was their exchange. “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
Yes. Yes, we are. Our greatest problem is not that our lives don’t matter—it’s that they do, but our significance is hidden from us from the great deceiver of our times. Still God can cut through that deception and lead us into right thinking, right beliefs, and right actions.
Guns. Laws. Security. Counselors. Training. Media reform. Political action. Social Change. Tools or idols? Instruments of wisdom serving the God who sees or idols that blind us and divide so that
we continue to fall prey to the same trap over and over.
Seek Him first. Sounds like an antiquated cliché along the lines of thoughts and prayers. It becomes that when we don’t do it.
You and I have access to the highest power. Are we living and moving toward that access or looking to the hills for answers? Their blood cries out. Will we listen?
**Next week, my website will be down for some time for necessary maintenance. There may be no post then but feel free to connect with me through email (lorisroel@gmail.com) or over social media. Thank you for your understanding and patience!
Where we look for answers in the aftermath of tragedy matters. https://t.co/KpQ2qYMLHG #UvaldeMassacre #amwriting
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) June 15, 2022
June 9, 2022
God in Uncertain Times
An Ode to All We Do Not Know
This morning I thought back to one year ago.
I started the day at my desk after some Bible reading and prayer. Worked my job. Enjoyed a sense of self-determination and well-being. At 1, I left to meet a client.
By 3:30, I was in the back of a rescue, torn and bleeding with injuries that would take months to heal. Wounds that still ache after a long day of writing. An attack that continues to ripple through my life with consequences and still uncertain outcomes.
There was another morning, years back.
It was a Sunday and I worshipped with my church family—sitting behind a couple I enjoyed but only sort of knew. I thought about asking them to dinner some time.
By evening, we got word that the husband’s small plane had crashed. He had received a greater invitation—to a table awaiting all who believe, but he wouldn’t be invited to mine. That opportunity exploded on a wide, green airfield.
Life is uncertain and don’t we hate that! I know I’m not alone.
We can all think back. To the week in 2020 before we went into lockdown. To a month in early 2022 when most of us would struggle to find Ukraine on a map. To the decision that changed everything or the phone call that came in the night or the announcement that arrived out of the blue.
Why? Why? Why? When our souls long for certainty, safety, and peace does God leave us to lives where we can be blindsided?
I believe there were generations who handled this better than we do. Generations, cultures, and personalities better equipped to navigate uncertainty. People living under expansive starry skies, dependent on weather and community and favorable crops just to survive a winter—who understood their own frailty, their smallness against the universe, the fragility of existence that is like a warm breath in the cold air. People who embraced humility as the truth rather than as a spiritual exercise requiring supernatural imagination.
We are the most narcissistic generation I imagine that has ever walked the earth.
Believing we can see, predict, plan, chart, determine, and decide all our ways to eliminate risk, fear, loss, and everything we don’t want to enter our carefully mapped lives.
Perhaps because we stare at screens rather than stars and see ourselves reflected there, larger than we truly are. We live surrounded by mirrors, images, and control panels so we gauge that we have greater control than we do—mastery over our worlds and the ones we create.
So, rather than cling to God in grateful dependence, we resent Him when life breaks in and reminds us we belong to the breakable, easily obliterated human race like every generation before us. Rather than hit our knees and ask for help, we shake our fists and rebuild our towers, determined that next time the flood waters won’t reach our heights.
We are a stingy generation. A people struggling to schedule God into our days, collapsing at night with only the fleeting memory of intending to read His Word, speak His name, or exhale a prayer. We determine tomorrow will be the day but right now, we deserve a break—this drink, this workout, this episode, this update. Right now, we must be informed, 
of course, and rested and fed and relieved.
Stingy toward God but generous toward ourselves in ways we don’t even see because our narcissistic certainty has blinded us to the collapse of our own perspectives inward.
Jesus told a parable about us once:
“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21 ESV
I detest the uncertainty of life and yet, I see the hidden gift of it, too. I don’t know where I’ll end up later today. Perhaps disaster will revisit my life or perhaps I’ll cook dinner and watch a show. Remembering that I wasn’t prepared last year, but God saw me through, reminds me to be rich toward God today.
Not to lay up plans and choices like a hoarded treasure I can count on to keep me warm but to lean into God, knowing He sees what’s coming and is present there as He is now.
There lies a gift in all we do not know. It strips us down to all we can know. We can know Him—and He is enough.
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God in uncertain times – An Ode to All We Do Not Know https://t.co/gCULKT15O6 #amwriting #JesusChrist
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) June 9, 2022
June 1, 2022
How to Love People Who Hate You (Or Going from Different to Dangerous)
It used to be that you just disagreed.
You were the “Jesus” person. He was your “thing.” No biggie. Their parents talked about Jesus, or they grew up going to church or they knew others who were “religious.” You were still cool.
They just saw life differently than you. They didn’t need that “crutch.” They weren’t into the Bible. They had other things to do on the weekend. They were spiritual but didn’t believe in organizing it into a church box.
Besides, you did nice things for people in the community. You represented Jesus and He’s all about love. You could be trusted. You worked hard. You forgave. You listened. You seemed to really care.
You were different but that’s okay. Everyone has different ideas. You could still be friends, family, coworkers, partners, community.
Then one day, that changed.
Not you.
But something.
Because now, you’re not different, you’re dangerous.
Now, it’s not okay to disagree.
Now, you’re what’s wrong with our country—maybe the world.
Now, they’re sure they understand Jesus better than you do.
Your understanding of Jesus makes people feel bad to the point they want to give up. Your understanding is archaic. It causes wars—probably even racism, sexism, abuse, and everything else the world hates.
Now, you’d better stop talking. They don’t want that kind of talk in their home, business, community, world. They won’t tolerate it. Not even for a moment.
Really, they wish you would just get on board or go away.
So, you do what you do. You open God’s Word and hit your knees asking for direction.
That hasn’t changed.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28 ESV).
Now it’s getting real. Now, you experience an unfamiliar dimension of the gospel.
Suddenly the splintery wood and the piercing nails of the cross don’t feel like a concept you want to dip in gold and hang around your neck. You can hear the hammer on the nail head. You feel the thorns on His brow. You hear the taunts of His neighbors, coworkers, friends—people He’s healed and set free—shouting “Crucify.”
And Scripture comes alive on your front porch, your cubicle, your boardroom, the school committee meeting, or on the evening news:
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 
But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”
John 15:18-25
You inhale His truth and exhale all that used to be true about the world around you.
You wish you had learned to love better when it was easier to love.
Loving people who tolerated you wasn’t all that difficult. Loving people who wish you were gone, who whisper lies, who consider you “the problem,” is a whole other can of worms. You can’t do that.
And Jesus draws you close and in the pages of His Word You hear Jesus say, “Of course, you can’t.”
“You need me. You always have but now you see it even more. I love those who hate you. Just as I loved you when you hated me. I loved you when your sin nailed me to the cross. I love you now and will love you into eternity. You can’t offer them what you don’t have but what you do have is Me. Offer My love, even when they reject you, mock you, laugh at you, silence you, or shut you out.”
So, You dig into His Word and remember everything you know about God.
You remember truth. You put on love. You remove all the emotional and social armor you first threw on when the threat appeared and replace it with His armor—knowing it can be pierced on this side of glory but cannot harm you into eternity.
On the day you went from different to dangerous, nothing really changed except the scales fell from your eyes.
You’ve always been dangerous. You are light in a world that loves darkness. Light will prevail.
Now, let’s get out there and love our neighbors. It will never be easier than it is today.
BONUS post: 10 Hymns about Freedom We Can Sing Today
How to love people who hate you. (on the day you go from being different to dangerous). #amwriting #Jesus https://t.co/BOtv5fhBIc
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) June 1, 2022
May 24, 2022
Abusive Christian Leaders and Our Role in The Cover-Up
Let’s be crystal clear:
It isn’t the revelation of abusive leadership that is the problem, it’s the fact of the abuse.
The headlines aren’t the problem for the church—the abuse and the cover up are the problems.
This time, it’s a report that the Southern Baptist Convention failed to address myriad sexual abuse allegations against pastors and church staff, despite having a secret list of those who had been accused.
It’s incomprehensible that those charged with representing Christ in a leadership role, especially in a denomination that preaches headship with such fervor, should so recklessly disregard the victims of those entrusted with their care.
In one documented case, a girl of 14 was repeatedly sexually abused by her pastor. When it finally resulted in a pregnancy, she was forced to apologize to the congregation ALONE with no mention of the father.
This is injustice. This is abominable behavior. It doesn’t serve God or the church to pretend it doesn’t happen or to deal with it under cover of darkness. It must be confronted in the light.
Here are my warnings to you, my friends, about areas in which we must wake up as a church to do better at eliminating this kind of abuse and cover up:
GOD DOESN’T NEED OUR PROTECTION, and neither should our leaders. Anyone telling victims they are responsible to be quiet to protect the ministry or the work of the leader or the outreach of the church should reject that as a lie. When we engage in cover-up in the church, we’re employing self-protection. Don’t even pretend we’re not. In Isaiah 46, God warns Israel that idols need to be carried. Idols cannot save themselves and need protection. Idols are a burden to the people. God, on the other hand, carries US! ““Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” Isaiah 46:3-4 ESV We must not make idols of our leaders. They are accountable to God like everyone else. The sheep don’t protect the shepherd! When that’s happening, it’s a giant red flag that something is wrong. If there is sin in the church, the sin is the problem, not bringing it to light. Full stop.We MUST GROW UP about having hard conversations. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to confront a false teacher. Especially when we love, admire, and rely on them. Especially when they’ve done a skillful job of only abusing one or two in our midst. It’s unbearable to listen to details of abuse. It’s exhausting and gross to have to confront an unrepentant
deceiving leader repeatedly until the truth emerges but guess what? It must be done. So, let’s grow up, grab the tools God has provided for this and do the work. Not in fear of public shaming but out of LOVE for innocent victims whose souls are being battered and trampled by someone representing Jesus Christ. Yes, there are false accusations sometimes made against godly men and women. I know the pain of this from experience. But this is why we must become comfortable with and experienced at doing what is uncomfortable and working through these conversations with humility, gentleness, and love but also tenacity and commitment to revealing truth. 
When we talk about this in the weeks ahead, we should do so without defensiveness, with humility, and with lament for those who have suffered. Sin is sin and when it comes to light, God is at work. Yes, there are abusive leaders in the church and covering up their abuse is a crime against humanity.
Every individual involved—the victims, their families, the congregations, the abusers, and those involved in the cover-up, are people made in the image of God for whom Jesus died. Victims can find healing in Christ. Families and congregations can find wisdom in Christ. Abusers who sincerely repent and demonstrate the fruit of repentance in their lives over time will know forgiveness in Christ.
But, those who play at repentance, who feign sorrow and reach for rapid restoration, those who wrap false repentance around themselves like a fireproof cloak and demand others buy the cheap grace their selling so they can get on with their public ministries and their private violations, they will reap from God what they sow. And the church must heed the warnings in God’s Word that these wolves in sheep’s clothing exist among us and be wise.
Our prayers for the victims should be full of lament, requests for God to search our hearts, and intercession for healing, justice, and restoration. Our prayers for those around them—their families,
their congregations, and all who have become secondary victims—should be the same.
We should also pray for those who abused and for those who covered up abuse that they would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repent (with the fruit of repentance evident over time). We should also pray that those refusing to repent or feigning repentance be brought to light as the false teachers or hypocrites or agents of evil or wolves that they are and that those dealing with them would have the Christ-centered courage required to protect the sheep from them, even at great cost.
The message of the gospel is love. The truth of Christ is that He died for us sinners, He paid the price for our sin, and through the cross, we can receive forgiveness and grace. Christ also taught that we would be spreading this truth in a fallen, broken world where spiritual enemies sow weeds among the good seeds and send wolves in among the sheep.
Loving Christ means we live in the full truth of what He taught, and we grow up in Him enough to hold our leaders accountable, exercising discernment to eject those who prey on the sheep they’ve been called to protect.
Pray for your pastor and pastoral staff today. If they are godly people, let them know how dearly you appreciate them and support them with words and actions. There are wonderful men and women of God shepherding God’s people with Christ-like character and integrity. Thank God for them today and pray for their hearts, minds, souls, and strength to be always fully yielding to Christ alone.
**If your church or your leadership need help using the tools God has provided to have hard conversations, please reach out to me. I’m available for
coaching, for support, and for training. My book, The Art of Hard Conversations: Biblical Tools for the Tough Talks that Matter, is also available. If you can’t afford a copy, reach out to me at lorisroel@gmail.com.
The report of sexual abuse in the church isn’t the problem-the fact of its existence is the problem. How will we respond? https://t.co/1WyAQlbf3F #SBCReportChat #SBC
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) May 24, 2022
May 18, 2022
Five Ways to Love Pro-Choice Women
The country is one raw nerve and me along with it. How about you?
The temptation to join a screaming, raging, angry camp is hard to resist.
But then I remember Hebrews 13:12-14 (ESV), “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
So, here I am—abiding with Him outside the camp, knowing I’m a sojourner in this “city” that is not my home. Outside the camp is an unpopular, uncomfortable place but it’s where we’re most likely to encounter God.
I am a die-hard, pro-life woman called to love pro-choice women who see me as the enemy, a gender-traitor, a barrier, a stone in the movement’s shoe, misinformed, or misled by the patriarchy.
And I wonder how best to love them, these women I defended when they were still unborn. These women who are angry, fearful perhaps, but decidedly vocal. These women marching for and demanding rights (for me) that I reject because they are wrong.
These women promoting a summer of rage and promising to be ungovernable. These women who feel justified in their indignation because, after all, what person willingly gives up any rights, let alone rights that are so intimate and personal? I get that. I don’t like giving anything up that’s mine.
And I wonder how Jesus would have me love these women, some of whom are friends, relatives, colleagues? I do love them but really, how do I love them in a way they can hear? He loves them, as surely as the sun rises each day but how does He want it demonstrated as they demonstrate?
I can think of five ways today:
First, I can refrain from calling them names or treating them like a mob, a voting bloc, a madding crowd. This dehumanizes them. Makes it easier to dismiss them or worse, to vilify them. Individually, they are deserving of respect because, like me, God made them in His image.
The God I worship formed their inward parts and knitted them together in their mother’s wombs. Their frames were not hidden from Him when they were being made in secret. His eyes saw their unformed substance and in His book was written, every one of them, the days that were formed for them when, as yet, there were none of them. Before a word is formed on their tongues, He knows it altogether. (Psalm 139).
They are not an angry mob for me to abuse with my rhetoric. They are fellow creations of the Almighty God loved by Him with a love that went to the cross, deserving of my kindness, consideration, and respect as fellow humans trying to navigate a broken world.
Second, I can hear them out. Sure, I’ve been around for decades, and I believe I’ve heard all the arguments, but I haven’t heard all these women—their stories, thoughts, longings, fears, histories, and hurts. Some are new to the planet, others new to the conversation, and some have been around as long as I, but have I truly listened to them?
God commands me to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). When I obey Him, I have nothing to fear. Nothing to fear from being quiet while they speak, from refraining from interrupting, from not forming my thoughts as they share theirs, from reading their editorials and the signs they carry, from slowing down the exchange and daring to hear. It’s what I want from them, to be heard out, not shouted down, ignored, or interrupted and God tells me to treat others the way I’d like them to treat me. So, I can listen without agenda.
Third, I can love and exercise compassion and mercy. Compassion for how hard it can be to be a woman. For young professionals competing with men who can have the joy of children without taking time out of work. For victims of abuse, incest, rape, poverty, failed birth control, pressure from dismissive partners or overbearing parents, unplanned pregnancies, mental health challenges, a doctor’s best counsel that their child is better off not born, and more.
I can have compassion, too, for women who have been taught to take charge of their lives, futures, plans, bodies, wombs and who have been raised in a culture that considers them lesser if they allow the unplanned to undermine their goals, who find no support in their circle for a pregnancy that came in under their radar. Who hear, instead, Deal with it quickly. There will be a better time, after all. Certainly not now.
Many of these women don’t need my arguments or my position, they need my compassion and God’s mercy demonstrated one-on-one. Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is
over all that he has made.” His mercy is over these angry, ungovernable women. His compassion. His tender mercy. This, I can offer, because I am His ambassador here. To me, to live is Christ. I will reject condemnation that they have become exactly what this culture is designed to create. Without Christ, I wouldn’t be swimming upstream either.
Fourth, I can speak truth with confident humility, gently, and with kindness. The unborn have no voice and so they deserve to be defended, but God calls us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). That doesn’t sound like someone screaming names or coolly pronouncing judgements. I can speak with fervent passion without communicating shame because my sins nailed Jesus to the cross, too.
And patience. God calls me to be patient, even in persuasion over life and death. I believe in a culture of life, and I renounce solutions that lead to death, but we live in a fallen world. I don’t believe in killing but I have supported wars. I don’t believe in murder, but I have spoken for the death penalty. So, I can be patient with arguments for abortion, not because I agree in any way, but because the fog of deception that permeates our world is real and makes navigating choices, all choices, a challenge. Abortion is different than war or final justice because the unborn are completely innocent and fly no flags, but still, sin has complicated our thinking so surely, we can be patient as we work together through the tangled knots.
Fifth, I can use every spiritual weapon God provided to protect all women—the unborn and those who have survived the womb—from evil. Because, let’s be real. There is 
honest-to-goodness evil that abounds both in the spiritual world and in the hearts of some people. Leaders who order genocide. Wealthy businessmen and women who purchase virgins on the dark web. Policymakers sitting in back rooms writing position papers with no heart for the innocent lives snuffed out by their politics. False teachers pretending to be shepherds of the flock all the while exploiting the trusting sheep. Women and men who don’t care about women or rights but who thrive on disruption, on defiance, and on promoting death.
So, I can engage in warfare. Intercessory prayer. Speak and write God’s Word into the marketplace of ideas. Serve women in need and minister to those who suffer. Care for unwanted children. Be the church. Defy evil. Out-persist those who wish only to destroy.
Refuse to wage war as the world does. Refuse to harbor hate or speak condemnation or add darkness to already dark situations. Live in the light. Resist the temptation to take cheap shots but follow that narrow path that always takes the long way home to the heart of God.
There is no shortcut, no fast track, no quick cure into people’s hearts and minds. It’s idolizing speedy solutions that led to the deaths of over 63 million souls since Roe v Wade.
Those tiny lives are in God’s hands now. We cannot bring them back, but we can love their mothers.
And knowing they are gone, so many little souls, may persuade others to stop exercising the choice that leads to death.
We have people to love, truth to tell, and a kingdom of light to advance against the darkness one match strike at a time. We must continue the work, but we must do it as ambassadors of Christ in the way He would work—enacting justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
We cannot bring back 63 million souls, but we can love their mothers. https://t.co/N6t9qJUgNB #prochoice #ProLife
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) May 18, 2022
May 4, 2022
Christians and Roe v Wade
Why is Roe v Wade such a concern for many Christians? Why is this an issue on which we’re passionate? Does our interest stem from a form of fascism that seeks to impose our faith beliefs on others? Not at all. Fascism is the antithesis of faith in Christ. Faith in Christ cultivates humility, compassion for others, and a focus on change from the inside. External imposition of change isn’t faith, it’s force. However, in a democracy, where citizens have a voice, it is the responsibility of Christians to advocate for the protections of those who cannot speak for themselves. The unborn are vulnerable and voiceless but they are human. They deserve the chance to survive the womb.
Today on Christianity.com, I was asked to share my thoughts on the history of Roe v Wade. Here is the article where I write about the need for Christians to respect and demonstrate compassion for women in their reproductive choices but to reject the death of vulnerable child as a viable solution for complex problems. The deaths of an estimated 63 million souls should give us pause as we ask ourselves if we can’t make better choices going forward as a society that values all life.
Christians and Roe v Wade https://t.co/QjEqllEVx8 #RoeVWade #RoeVsWade
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) May 4, 2022
April 29, 2022
The Reality of Being in the Family of God
The family of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ.
To some, those are inviting and amazing phrases. To those of us who have experienced less than wholesome family life or real siblings, those phrases can be a mixed bag.
But then again, so is the church. God extends His grace through Christ to anyone, even me!
Which is why I’ve been chuckling all week about a line in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 9:3 ESV says this, “But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.”
I am sending the brothers.
What thoughts or emotions did that stir up in the believers at Corinth? They’ve been going back and forth with Paul over a corrective situation. There’s been tension but now, things are turning around. Repentance has occurred. Forgiveness extended. The ship is being righted and all is well.
But now, Paul is sending the brothers.
Think about some famous siblings. John and James, Sons of Thunder. Peter and Andrew, two of Jesus’ first followers. If these brothers arrived, it would be a rich time of fellowship.
But, then consider Jacob’s twelve sons – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin plus their sister Dinah. Sending brothers in that family didn’t work out well for either Joseph or Dinah.
Sending the Kennedy brothers— John, Bobby, Ted— might suggest help was arriving and a little fun but sending the Corleone brothers — Sonny, Fredo, Michael, and Tom would not suggest a good time.
Sending the sisters from Little Women— Meg, Joe, Beth, and Amy would suggest lovely support and maybe some tea. While sending Cinderella’s stepsisters would imply a necessary makeover but served with some serious backstabbing.
Sending Jake and Elwood, the Blues brothers, would mean trouble but trouble accompanied by a rockin’ soundtrack!
I’m joking a bit but this phrase from Paul made me consider what God wants for us as family.
We are family— you and me. Family with all who know Jesus. We have family expectations—traits and behaviors that set us apart from other families. God’s Word is full of statements about how brothers and sisters in Christ should think of and act toward one another. Here are some to consider.
Eight truths about this brotherhood/sisterhood in Jesus.
We’re stuck with one another by the blood of Jesus. That’s right. You and I don’t get to decide who’s in or out. (Romans 12:3-5, 1 Corinthians 12:14-15). I got you, bro and you got me through eternity, so we should get on board with this family situation.Our primary command is to love one another as Jesus loves us because that is how our family is known in the world, by our love. (John 13:34-35) And, we’re not allowed to fake it! (Romans 12:10) Plus, Paul defines it, so we know if we’re doing it. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) The only way to love this way is to allow God to change us from the inside out.We’re to honor one another as greater than ourselves. (Romans 12:10) We need to distribute this honor equally – not showing favoritism to those who are rich or to those most like us. (James 2:1-6, Galatians 2:11-21)We’re to accept one another, not comparing ourselves to one another but celebrating differences. (1 Corinthians 12:18-25)We’re to instruct and challenge one another. That’s a very sibling thing to do. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Paul told the Roman Christians, “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” He tells the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,” and the writer of Hebrews tells us “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” We are supposed to be in one another’s business just like biological siblings. This is part of being in the family of God so we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens. We
will get in one another’s faces. We can learn from one another, push one another to excellence, and correct one another in ways that people outside the family can’t. Sometimes we won’t do this part well but that’s why our sixth way of being family isTo Bear with one another and forgive one another. (Ephesians 4:1-3, Colossians 3:12-13) What’s implicit in these commands to forgive is the notion that we will sin against one another, hurt one another, have misunderstandings, disagreements, and conflict but we are to work through them as family, as siblings who are together through life.We’re not to complain about each other. How hard is that, right? I hear that Amen! James (James 4:11, James 5:9) and Peter (1 Peter 4:8-10) make points of instructing on this and they would know!Finally, just like an earthly family, we are called to do life together. To share meals, sorrows, joys, and triumphs. We’re to pray for one another, cheer one another on, witness one another’s lives, and watch out for each other. Paul says that “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (1 Corinthians 12:25 ESV) This is how God’s family operates.We are family. Because Jesus died on the cross, defeated death and sin, and rose again, we have been adopted as sons and daughters of the Most High God making you and I brothers and sisters. Like it or not.
And, like Jake and Elwood Blues, we’re on a mission from God.
Be grateful that we’re not alone. God, in His kindness and mercy provided us one another to travel with on that long road home to eternity. Be grateful today to God and to the brothers and sisters God has sent to you!
What does it mean to have "brothers and sisters in Christ?" What is the reality of the family of God? https://t.co/VuaMSPNZzh #faith #amwriting
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 29, 2022
April 21, 2022
Maybe Disney Isn’t the Only Problem – Maybe the Real Problem is Us
People don’t like preachy stories.
That’s what Christian writers hear all the time. Avoid preaching! Focus on telling a great story!
Beware of agenda-driven writing! If you want to make a point, write an essay or a non-fiction book but keep your stories pure. Your biblical worldview will infuse them organically so leave the message to the Holy Spirit. You focus on excellent creative writing and truth. Nothing drains creativity faster than preachiness.
Over and over, leaders in the Christian publishing industry drill these types of messages at conferences, workshops, and in private audiences with aspiring Christian writers.
Apparently, some of the writers at Disney didn’t get the memo that people don’t like preachy stories. And this fear of draining creativity is lost on them.
That doesn’t, however, make it less true. There’s no faster way to lose your audience than to preach at them.
There has been uproar in the past few weeks related to a report that some writers at Disney have been given carte blanche to insert LGBTQ characters liberally throughout their stories. There is a danger in using children’s stories to promote an unbiblical agenda but it’s not as if this is the first step Disney has ever taken in this direction.
I’m reminded of a time decades back when a friend called me, outraged that the sitcom Cheers had introduced a gay character. This would be the end of her watching Cheers, she assured me.
I enjoyed watching Cheers, but it wasn’t lost on me that the show was set in a bar and revolved around a narcissistic lothario with no sexual boundaries – hardly upstanding biblical material even before this development. I understood my friend’s dismay but seriously, if we’re going to get self-righteous about it, shouldn’t that have kicked in earlier than the gay character?
We should be concerned about the stories we tell our children and just as concerned about the stories we tell ourselves. The problem is that Satan is crafty and disguises
himself as an angel of light. Our discernment needs to kick in long before the obvious offenses to the biblical message appear.
Is the focus of a story (movie, TV show, novel) the benefit of riches, the joy of pursuing self above all else, or the celebration of skill over character? Are the evil characters more fascinating than those that choose good? Is the hero willing to lie, steal, or engage in other nefarious behavior to achieve her goals? What emotions does the story evoke? Dissatisfaction with life? Shame? Anger? Self-righteousness? Judgmentalism? Are the Jesus-loving characters respected or mocked? True-to-life or caricatures? Representative of Christians you know or of negative stereotypes?
The problem isn’t really with Disney. The problem is with our acceptance that the passive consumption of stories as entertainment is innocent and without consequence. And that we leave our children alone with stories that are not representative of the greater truths but that imaginatively engage them in the lesser stories of this world.
As I’ve perused multiple streaming services lately, I can assure you that Disney isn’t the only production company weaving condescending, agenda-driven messages into their stories. If I want to hear a culturally-informed agenda-driven sermon, I can turn to Netflix, HBO, Prime, or Hulu any hour of the week.
And nothing has proven to me more that preachiness drains creativity and reduces even highly produced stories to stale, dry sermons.
But, we’ve lost our appetites for richly woven kingdom-infused stories and choose to satisfy our souls and minds by munching on the junk food of modern media believing one weekly worship service will rid our minds of a week spent consuming dark lies disguised as light.
So, don’t rail at Disney. Disney will only produce what we’re willing to buy.
I’m not rigid and prudish about my story consumption. I don’t limit myself to only clean fiction or only Christian programming by any means (which the range of streaming services to which I subscribe should testify).
But, I do ask questions as I watch. I do check in with myself about what emotions the story is evoking. When I catch myself passively consuming, I ask what thoughts or feelings are rising to the surface and if those are thoughts and feelings I want to cultivate. If not, I change the channel.
We are hard-wired for stories. There is incredible power in the stories we tell our children and the stories we tell ourselves.
Disney writers themselves will testify – storytelling is serious business. It’s certainly not child’s play.
I believe in freedom of expression for all people and wouldn’t restrict others from telling the stories they dream of telling any more than I’d welcome restrictions on my freedom to tell the stories bursting from me.
In fact, if you’re paying attention, you’ll see that even “secular” storytellers are sometimes telling the truth. The TV show Scandal had few redeeming qualities but its central message, marvelously illustrated week-after-week was that sin always leads to death. Powerful biblical truth will emerge from the most unexpected stories.
So, while storytellers have certain powers, consumers of stories can enhance or reduce these powers by being discerning listeners and by encouraging biblical
storytellers and creators.
It’s right to take a hard look at what Disney is producing right now but it’s also right to take a look at ourselves.
We are the people entrusted with the greatest story and full of the Holy Spirit, empowered to deliver His truth.
What effort are we making to create the best stories? And what are we allowing to capture our imaginations and the imaginations of our children?
This headline is our opportunity to rise to our calling and elevate not only the stories we’re consuming but also the one we’re living.
Maybe the problem isn't only #Disney – maybe it's also US. https://t.co/B8NqsOXI4m #Jesus
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 21, 2022
April 15, 2022
Perseverance – The Loneliest, Most Underestimated Virtue
Perseverance.
Such a lonely, uncelebrated virtue.
And yet, like an unassuming seed that falls to the ground with no witness to its burial, perseverance does its work deep within our souls and then suddenly bursts forth from the earth of our lives with the power of life to break through death and produce beautiful, rich, nourishing fruit.
Jesus persevered.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
He left everything. And His everything is nothing we can even imagine. The everything of Heaven. The everything of one-ness with the Father. The everything of being fully God.
He left it all to be born one of us. To a poor family. Hunted by evil forces at His birth. Rejected by those He created. Unrecognized as the author and perfecter of the faith story He came to fulfill. What He endured for us is unimaginable still.
All the weight of all the sin of all the world was on His shoulders on the cross. Think of the evil that ravages the world in our times. He took on the weight of every headline and every crime or sinful deed hidden in darkness, and He paid the price for all that.
But after He tasted death, He defeated it and rose to everlasting life. And He did not keep this life to Himself but offers it to us. We can join Him in this life.
And when we do, we too, will be called to persevere.
This story of perseverance is the thread of the gospel story God tells through my life. I know this and yet, I still sigh when another trial appears, another challenge, another hurdle to clear.
But God’s faithfulness is the greater story He breaths into my soul and He is ever present, ever true, ever steadfast.
I sometimes pull, gasping, to the side of the narrow road and wonder how I will return to the journey. Having taken on this blog in 2008, I cannot hide from you, my friends, the consequence of these times. I cannot pretend to always rise above every trial. I cannot falsely claim to sail on wings of faith seamlessly through every challenge.
You see the stumbles in my writing – or my lack of it.
The war in Ukraine. The division in our country. The quarreling in the church. And upheaval in my own life (I am newly unemployed after 10 years in my job) nearly silenced me in these past weeks.
I tried to write.
When words failed me, I pressed into God in prayer. There is so much to learn about praying – more than asking for things, more than pleas for strength – remembering who God is and all that is ours through Jesus and praying God’s kingdom come, His will be done, and deliverance from evil in our times. I believe with all my heart that Ukraine has prevailed this far through the prayers of the saints and the perseverance of the people.
Perseverance. There it is again.
So, in these past weeks, I’ve spent my words on my knees and had none left over to share.
Please forgive me. It has been a time of remembering that God doesn’t reject my humanity or my frailty or my limits. His love never fails but I do.
And yet, He calls us to persevere.
Something in us rails against this virtue because it doesn’t shine.
Perseverance is permeated with sweat, scraped knees, frantic tears, bloody noses, bruised egos, battered hearts, and weariness that weighs more than we can bear.
Perseverance means getting up off the mat only to be knocked down again, and again, and again, but always rising with strength poured into us by God, remembering He, too, felt these blows.
To persevere is to practice a faith that worships while sirens warn that bombs may fall. To persevere is to practice faith that prays and believes God’s Word even when the world goes mad. To persevere is to fail, to ask forgiveness, and to start again.
Perseverance doesn’t shine but its beauty is undeniable. Look at Ukraine and the church there and the story of faith it speaks to the world.
And so, God has renewed my heart, too, to persevere in writing. Please forgive my absence and the shakiness of my prose. You, dear friends, are so precious to me but, more, you are precious to Jesus and so we are one.
Thank you for bearing with me. Pray for me as I pray for you for truly, we know in these times more than ever than we are just trying to keep our eyes on Jesus, our feet on the narrow path, and our hearts aimed toward home.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV
Thank you, again, for reading what I write. I offer it as all I have to offer in this great battle to be light in dark times. I was gone for a time, but I write again. Thank you for being here still.
**A word of good news: Colorful Connections: 12 Questions about Race that Open Healthy Conversations, a book I co-wrote with Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, is available now for pre-order on Amazon (and at Kregel, Barnes and Noble, Christianbook.com, Target, and other places where books are sold). 
Perseverance – the loneliest, underestimated virtue but a game changer in #UkraineWar https://t.co/wMiIxbcXfL #amwriting
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 15, 2022
