Category Archives: Obedience

Grow… Grow… Grow…

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Margaret and MarjieWhen I was in 6th grade, Marjie Simmons (not her real name) was my best friend. One school day we were outside during recess when she said, “Something bad’s gonna happen.”

“What?” I said.

“We’re moving.”

I was speechless. Marjie said she wouldn’t be going to 7th grade with me, because she’d be living over 1000 miles away. This was devastating. When I told Mom, she kindly sympathized, but Dad said, “What’s all the fuss about? Before long you’ll forget all about her.”

My eleven-year-old heart was broken, because in my mind Marjie would always be #1. The thought of forgetting her was beyond comprehension. Although Dad hadn’t spoken with much tact, it turned out he was right. The sadness of Marjie’s departure didn’t last long, and other girlfriends soon took her place.

Marjie probably moved away from our friendship without difficulty, just as I did, because children go through life-changes like water through a funnel. They’re not the only ones changing, though. We adults have to change, too, since not changing leads to no place good.

Tying shoesA child’s goals are reachable: learning to walk, tying a bow, writing a name. Later it’s a little more work: conquering a sport, getting a license, buying a car. Once the childhood goals are met, things get downright complicated: choosing a career, finding a mate, conquering a bad habit. As our decisions grow in importance, we have to grow in maturity, and that includes the most difficult growth-arena, spiritual maturity.

My sister Mary and I once had a talk about our prayer lives. Compared to the volume of Mom’s praying, we were pathetic, still riding on her spiritual coattails as grown women. But eventually both of us succumbed to God’s conviction and responded to his prayer-invitation.

Then Mom died. We found ourselves wondering who would fill the prayer-void Mom had left, especially in reference to our own families.

“Maybe that’s us?” I said.

“And we arrived just in time,” Mary said, in a reference to Mom’s departure.

Although that change was long in coming, it’s one example of spiritual growth. We all have change-choice options. I should always be asking, “How can I do better? What does God want me to do now? Where can I improve?” To follow his lead is to avoid a stall or a stagnation.

Marjie Simmons and I quickly grew apart as kids, exactly as Dad had predicted. If we met again, both of us would have changed radically since our days together in 6th grade. But maybe if I did find her, we could be brand new friends.

I wonder if she’s on Facebook…

”We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then… you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” (Colossians 1:9-10)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Please pray that the anti-nausea IV before tomorrow’s chemo (#11) will work as well as it did last Monday.
  2. I’m thankful for summer, because of extra time with children and grandchildren.

Love Without End, Part 3

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Nate loved his Rolex and learned that every other Rolex-wearer felt the same. I remember a moment when the two of us were sitting on an ice cold bleacher-bench in a local park, watching Little League baseball on a winter-like spring day. The lady on the other side of him was bragging loudly to her friend about her new Rolex watch, a gold version she said had cost thousands. I knew that was true, having had my own gold Rolex several years before.

As I listened to her, I was awash in regret for having carelessly lost my watch. “Lucky her,” I thought. “She’s still got hers.”

Then Nate leaned over and whispered, “That’s not a Rolex.”

“What?” I said, knowing her watch looked exactly like mine.

“It’s a knock-off,” he said.

“How can you tell?”

“The hands. Her second hand is jumping with each tick. On a real Rolex it sweeps.”

Rolex knock-offI was impressed he knew that, and suddenly unimpressed with the woman’s bragging. It’s possible her watch was a gift and she didn’t know she’d been given a fake (like this picture), but whatever the case, all the boasting in the world wasn’t going to change that counterfeit into the genuine article.

Apparently every designer product has a knock-off version these days. I could buy a $2000 “Prada” bag for only $155 or a pair of “Louboutin” high heels worth $2400 for $68. Of course just as Nate recognized the fake Rolex, a Prada or Louboutin fan could quickly pick out the imitation.

That got me thinking about people, especially those of us who claim to be Christians. We’ve all known church attendees who parroted the right spiritual lingo, i.e. wore the right label, but who didn’t live out the philosophy behind it. Truth be told, we’ve all done it now and then. But just as a child can sense when an adult doesn’t like him, non-Christians know when someone is a “knock-off believer” trying to fake faith.

Scripture indicates that God doesn’t think much of that, which forces me to examine the validity of my own faith. Am I sometimes a phony Christian, acting one way but thinking another? Two-faced behavior like that amounts to a double standard in God’s opinion and is a serious offense to him.

A real RolexIt’s important to examine my thoughts and actions carefully and rout out any inconsistencies. I absolutely want to be the genuine article (like the watch at left). Although Nate loved his Rolex, several years after he received it, he put it in a drawer. Believing it was too ostentatious as we struggled to put food on our family table, he felt uncomfortable wearing it and went back to his low-cost watch. Even though I’d bought him the watch, I loved him more for making that choice.

And after that, if any Rolex-wearer noticed his timepiece was an inexpensive model, that was ok by him.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13)

Noggin Knocks

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Walking Jack around the neighborhood these days can lead to noggin knocks and goose eggs. It’s acorn time.

AcornsLocal squirrels are working high in the oak trees, chewing away the shells of acorns and collecting the nut-meats for winter. Chipmunks living under our front steps are doing the same. With oak trees everywhere, there’s plenty for all.

When we moved here full time, the sound of acorns banging on roofs, cars, and wooden decks took us off guard, mimicking gun shots. If we looked up, which was risky, a squirrel would inevitably be busy chomping overhead, causing clusters of acorns to fall.

My next door neighbor tells me getting bonked in the head is enough to make you wear a football helmet outdoors. Walking the roads can be perilous, too, with marble-like acorns all along the way. But acorn season can’t be stopped. God is busy sowing seeds.

I love his well-established, logical laws of sowing… and reaping. They apply to acorns and oak trees, but also to us. Erwin Lutzer summarized them well in a memorable sermon years ago:

  • Law #1, we’ll always reap what we sow.
  • Law #2, we’ll always reap in a different season than we sow.
  • Law #3, we’ll always reap more than we sow.

Oak treeOak trees produce acorns, which of course produce more oak trees, not maples or elms. (Law #1)

But it takes months for a buried acorn to put forth a seedling oak tree and over a decade before young oak trees produce acorns. (Law #2)

The big oak trees behind our cottage tower over 50 feet, but each had its beginning in one humble acorn. Today thousands of acorns are falling to the ground in our yard alone. (Law #3)

It’s easy to apply the laws of sowing and reaping to the humble acorn, and we nod with understanding. But applying them to ourselves is another story. Law #1 says, for example, that if we tell a lie, eventually we’ll be deceived ourselves. Law #2 tells us lying probably won’t catch up with us until later, but Law #3 says that when it does, our lives will be permeated with deception, cheating, and dishonesty.

We like to think of ourselves as the exception to every rule, believing if we take shortcuts around God’s laws, we can escape his consequences. So we plow ahead with our own ideas, not necessarily in rebellion but failing to understand God’s stated consequences.

Unfortunately, the biblical laws of sowing and reaping still apply. As lawyers are fond of saying, “Ignorance is no excuse.” Surely that statement originated with God.

BonkToo bad we don’t usually learn just by reading what we should and shouldn’t do. Sometimes God has to hit us over the head with it, sending acorns-to-noggins. But a few goose eggs are worth learning what we need to know.

“All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.” (Psalm 119:160)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Pray that I’ll stay as focused on God after good news as after bad, always looking to him for leadership and sustenance.