Transformation

Tags

biblical truth, black lives matter, George Floyd, God's grace, God's love, grace, gratitude, grief, Healing, hope in Christ, identity, identity in Christ, Kingdom Service, Prejudice, racism, sin, sonship, the gospel, trusting God, unconditional love

We are all really good at messing things up. We are all really good at making mistakes and hurting people. We are all good at stockpiling bitterness. We are all good at seeing the worst in people as a means of justification when things go badly.

George Floyd’s murder has caused an awakening across the country. It has caused those of sound mind and loving hearts to look at themselves and examine where they are in this conversation. There’s a difference between being “not racist” and being “anti-racist.”

I am anti-racist. I do not care which ethnicity is being targeted. I am not for it. I will not sit and listen to “jokes.” I will not tolerate slurs or stereotypical comments. I am not here for it. I am anti-racist.

That is consistent with the Bible. If you can look at the whole or heart of scripture that is all pointing to Jesus and not see His love for ALL of His creation, you do not know or love the Jesus I do.

He redeems. He transforms. He saves.

At this point, people have done their best to throw out information on who George Floyd was in regards to criminal activity. It is as if his crimes or black in black crime negate who he was trying to become.

I have been who George Floyd was. I was angry and dead in my sin. I made choices that reflected that nature. I am no more deserving of the grace who changed my life than him or anyone else. We forget that when someone’s aim is to point to the place of our failures instead of the King who won a victory for us that we could never deserve.

One of the relationships that changed my life was the one that began my Junior year of high school. Amy became my best friend. Her presence and friendship saved me. Literally. The investment her family made on me changed the trajectory of my entire life.

The first steps toward being who I am today started that year. I will always be thankful for our relationship. The bond we have has not been changed by time or distance. I can still be me and be heard and loved when we talk about anything- the hardest things. She is my family. My sister. My sister in Christ.

She and I were discussing the conversation that some people are trying to pivot toward the mistakes or George Floyd’s past. This is what she said:

“I agree that people’s wrongs shouldn’t be forgotten, but everything [she says] in dismantling his character is the same tactic used when every person commits a crime. We only focus on those wrongs that they’ve committed. But when we only look at a person’s wrongs, we ignore the whole person. When we only look at a person’s good, we ignore the whole person.
This was actually a lesson I put together for my students two years ago because they were struggling to understand why we should care about Odysseus when the Odyssey was about all of the wrong things he did. So I told them about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and MLK. And that, for the majority of those people that we hold up and support, we forget about their wrongs. Likewise, for those people that we hold up and vilify, we forget about their good. Being a criminal is not a reason for someone to be killed. [ ] son was arrested for marijuana possession; if he was black, it would have been very probable for him to die during that-even if he was complying. His death might not have been reported unless it was filmed. And if his family and friends rallied behind him and said he shouldn’t have been killed, other people would have broken down his character and said, ‘he was breaking the law.’”

We are so quick to let people’s mistakes define them all while not wanting people to focus on ours. It’s a fact that we can be so selective about who the gospel is for. It is a fact we can be so selective about who we decide the gospel is for.

My life and very person have been transformed since August 5, 2004. When I think about all of that and what I have become in the years since, I have nothing but gratitude for everyone who loved me through my worst.

If people did not love me passed who I was, none of that would have happened. I don’t know where I would be, but it would not be here.

I pray I never forget how far Jesus has carried me. I pray I never forget His heart for me and ALL people.

Liberty & Justice For ALL

Tags

Ahmad Aubrey, Anxiety, biblical truth, Christian Values, Christian Women, Death Grief, democracy, Family, Fear, freedom, George Floyd, God's love, grief, Healing, hope in Christ, hurt, Kingdom Service, love, Parenting, Prejudice, purpose, racism, raising children, Serving, sin, sonship, the gospel, unity

If your patriotism were on the altar in the temple, Jesus would have overturned it. He isn’t interested in that beyond what He taught you.

He did not teach you to be loyal to political party and agenda above all. He did not teach you to be loyal to any ethnicity above Him. He made us to know Him and enjoy Him forever. He made us to know Him as our highest treasure.

He made all of us. He could have made us all exactly the same, but diversity in His creation show His creativity and heart. That shows His love for all of us.

He did not make people with dark skin so they could be enslaved, beaten, counted as 3/5 a human, subject to Jim Crow, denied basic right, conditioned to believe they were less than, and left without a hope of justice. God’s heart is JUST. All of those atrocities came from the heart of man. We are great at causing devastation and destruction.

These injustices are systemic. They may create a narrative you do not live, but that does not mean that it is not true for others. They are filler in the soil of our country’s foundation.

You may be tired of hearing, “Black Lives Matter.” You ARE NOT more tired of hearing it than we are of saying it. Does that statement deny that all lives matter? No. Does it have to be said? Yes. BLACK LIVES MATTER TOO. BLACK LIVES SHOULD HAVE ALWAYS MATTERED. BLACK LIVES ARE NOT WORTH A MERE 3/5 COMPARATIVELY. It has to be said again and again because equality is still lost to us.

We can jog and be murdered. We can have those who are there to protect and serve weaponized against us through mere deceit. We can peacefully protest and lose everything. It was not just a lady refusing to leash a dog. It was Emmett Till and millions before him. We are terrified to make any mistake. We are afraid to be seen as a threat.

Our lessons to stay safe are different. Our way of life is not free. I am not free from the fear of knowing that while my brother is jogging to exercise, he could be accused to running to break into HIS luxury car. What will happen to him? A Marine. A Veteran. What if someone thinks he is breaking into it? I could be Ahmad’s family. I could be George’s family.

I am so tired of there being debate on this. There is no debate. There is no other opinion for anyone who wants an equal and just world. If you are fine with any of it, you are the problem. You will teach the hatred that has continued and plagued all of man kind. You will live with it. You will not call it out. Tolerating hatred is the same thing as condoning it.

If you hate anyone because of any ethnicity or any reason of difference, you do not love God. You are making the world a worse place for all of us- for my children to grow up in. I love this country, but I do not love what I see it becoming. I do not love the loss of the value of truth. I do not love the loss for the values of right and wrong. I do not love the loss of what justice and liberty mean.

Sorrows

Tags

affirmation, Anxiety, biblical truth, Christian, Christian Values, Christian Women, Death Grief, faith, Family, God's grace, God's love, God's truth, grace, gratitude, grief, Healing, hope, hope in Christ, hurt, identity in Christ, love, miscarriage, prayer, pregnancy, the gospel, tragedy, trials, trusting God, truth, unconditional love, Women

Today I’ve been listening to a song over and over. I woke up with it in my heart not knowing God was preparing a balm I would need.

“In all my sorrows, Jesus is better. Make my life believe…”

This is something I didn’t know would be necessary for today. In the heaviness in knowing people you love are suffering, it’s hard to see the truth over the situation beyond the devastation in it.

It has been a devastating day. I have sat frozen, unable to know what to do or think. Then the melody fills that empty seeming space…

He’s better. He is our hope. Today, He’s having to make my heart believe, but He has gone before. He prepared the way. He knew this grief and suffering, and He made a way for Him to be our eternal comfort. He isn’t angry at our needing to be comforted. He is standing by- ready to remind, to restore, to heal, and in that, my heart can believe.

Truly, in Him the anthem is “Glory, glory…” In Him there is something to be eternally grateful for- even if we have to wait until then to hold that and be wrapped up in it for a never-ending love and celebration.

Today, though my heart is better, Jesus is better and bigger, and in that, my soul can rest.

She’s So Real…

Tags

biblical truth, blogs, Christian blogs, Christian Women, guard your hearts, motherhood

We are flooded with content everywhere we look. Social media makes it so easy to gather up influences. With one click on a shared link, you “meet” the ideas of someone you could have never become acquainted with twenty years ago. That can be a great thing, but more often than not, this overload makes us forget something that is so critical:

 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

Other translations say guard your hearts. I think we forget this sometimes. I think that is a dangerous mistake.

One time this has been very real to me was when I read a blog post that several people I knew shared. This woman was supposed to be “so real” and really “get moms today” all while being “hilarious.” She was mean. In the midst of what she said about her kids, the undercurrent of her heart was not set in kindness or love. I thought she was really selfish. I talked to my husband after I read it because I usually don’t get so bothered, but this person’s reach of influence was very disconcerting to me. 

If this was what it meant to be “real,” and people felt like she was speaking things they wished they could say, then the heart reflected in it was being celebrated and owned; it shouldn’t have been. I don’t say this in judgement, but I say it to mean that if we read someone who says things that are out of line with scripture but are “more real” to us than how we should abide in actual truth, we need to consider what we are letting in. We need to consider what we’ve let get into our hearts. 

If that’s the person we praise and celebrate and encourage others to follow, we have a problem. The undercurrent matters. What is really under their statements that basically complained about everything in their life has to matter. 

Maybe this hit me the last few days because I was talking with a friend who is a new believer about being cautious about what she let influence her. I’m thankful for this reminder to always look at every part of what something says and to filter it through what matters- not what is a part of me that wants to not feel alone but instead needs to be put to death. 

That’s the danger. This kind of talk feeds the places in us that are not okay and says, “You’re not alone in feeling X, and because you’re not alone in it that makes it okay!” That sounds good, but is just plainly not true. If someone says something awful and negative and just ungodly about something like motherhood, that doesn’t make strength in numbers in feeling this way permissible. If anything it should hold up a mirror that says, “God that’s how I feel too, and I need you to help me not stay here!” It should not just confirm our deepest junk and make us feel okay about it. 

I think that’s the most troublesome part. It’s a trap. It’s real in that sense because it keeps you bogged down in negativity toward life and really important things; with this specific blogger, it was her children. Yes, having kids is stressful and SO MUCH work, but if at the end of the day your heart rests in mocking or being down on and not honoring that experience, it’s not okay whether or not you own it with 100,000 “likes.”

We learned this lesson the hard way. We were watching a pastor for years, and he’d say things that made us think, “Umm, not sure about that,” but we continued to listen. Since that day he has majorly renounced scripture and huge Biblical truths. It’s as if God, through the Holy Spirit, was sending up warning flares that we ignored because we liked “most” of what he said. This was a maturing moment that really highlighted the importance of guarding our hearts. 

In the end, we are going to stumble and get things wrong, but know that just because someone does something in the name of Jesus does not mean they do it in line with His truth.

Be careful out there friends. What you read and think become who you are and what you believe. There’s so much out there today to be influenced by. Be sure you look at the surface and undercurrent of what is being said so you don’t get pulled in and drink in beliefs that will keep you drowning. 

God Is Not A Nerd…

Tags

biblical truth, character of God, sound teaching

Today my Facebook newsfeed has been filled with comments and posts about a Christian blogger who recently gave an interview, and after reading that interview and the comments made in defense of her, I have this to say:

GOD IS NOT SOME OUT OF TOUCH NERD WHO NEEDS US TO REWRITE SCRIPTURE FOR HIM!

God is not sitting in heaven right now wearing a pocket protector and listening to cassette tapes on a Walkman unaware of what is going on today. He doesn’t need “modern Christians” to rewrite His words because He’s no longer culturally relevant. He doesn’t need us to attempt to erase hell or parse scripture to make it say what our feelings do. God does not need us to make Him relevant or cool. God does not need a man bun, a bike with a basket, a strategically placed beanie, or a coffee addiction and Starbucks card. 

He wrote the Bible through men, and there’s nothing throughout time that it does not bear its weight on. As a Christian, I believe this. As a Christian I also don’t expect that others who do not love and trust God will believe or live what I do, and in that, I see the need for the full truth of the gospel and the Great Commission. 

What’s surprising is how many people are dying on the altar of “Jesus said to love everyone” in arguing for this writer. It’s the bending of the definition of what it means to “love” by “modern, progressive Christians” that makes this whole argument appalling. I don’t think you can love God until you see your need for Him. He gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19). To do that we become aware of our sin by Him opening our eyes to what His holiness will not tolerate. In light of His holiness we see ourselves for what we are and see why we need His redemption through the Cross. Anyone who ever saw God in scripture was filled with a reverence and fear because the nature and holiness of God are not light things. It’s like saying, “God is holy!” Do we consider what that actually means? Can we begin to fathom the depth and breadth and scale of the holiness of God? 

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'” – Isaiah 6:1-7

People didn’t see God and think, “You’re awesome, and I’m awesome. We should totes hang!” We want to make Him something that does not require us to respond in healthy respect and in that people feel free to bend what He commands to fit their agenda or feelings.

Validation and love are not synonymous. Love isn’t telling people what they want to hear or accepting a gospel contrary to the one written in scripture. The Bible warns of this time also: 

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5

It is time to press into who God is and what He says as to not lose our footing while we stand on His word. We can’t stand on the words of men or women who claim to love and know Him or that they are speaking His truth as they elevate themselves into a position of honoring their thoughts and emotions or wants for the world above what God called us to. Genesis 3. It really won’t work out. It’s the same sin as the original, but this time it has a pretty blog format and catchy cute words and phrases that make us laugh until we stand back and examine what we are taking in. 

Guard your hearts and minds as this brand of teaching grows in popularity but not in Biblical understanding or truth. Press into the truth of God, and do not exchange it for a lie (Romans 1).