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Bright Lights

Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Philippians 215 NLT

I’m a football fan, so I’ve followed the latest controversy surrounding the New England Patriots. They’ve been accused of tampering with their footballs, deflating them just a little to make them easier to throw and catch.

Many football fans (not just Patriots fans) shrugged it off. “So what if they did? Everybody cheats.” “Happens all the time. Why make a big deal out of it now?”

Late last week, I read an article discussing how authors manipulate the bestseller lists. They enlist other companies to make a huge purchase of a latest release that drives the book up the bestseller list, and so makes it appear more successful than it is. The troubling thing was the article focused on popular Christian authors. Names you would recognize if I mentioned them.

Again many of the responses were, “This is a common practice. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

But there is.

Did you notice there was no difference in the responses to unethical behavior whether it was a sports team or a writer known for being a Christian? No big deal. Everybody does it.

As believers, we are called to a very high standard of ethics and integrity, not simply higher than the culture around us. We are called to Christ-likeness.

We can ignore the call, embrace “common practice” and by that, show the world around us that the things we believe don’t really have the power to change anyone. Least of all us. It will confirm what they suspected of us all along.

Or we can choose to live differently.

We can choose to live clean, innocent lives. We can refuse to cut corners, or bend the rules. Not because we have to. Not because we want to prove we’re better than anyone else, but simply because we want to honor God. To be a people set apart for Him to use, to be the people He made us to be.

3 Keys to Preparing for Worship

By Paula Wiseman

I know Sunday mornings can be the most hectic and frustrating hours of the entire week. The dog runs away. The youngest spills chocolate milk all over the only clean clothes she has. The middle one can’t find his Bible. Or his glasses. The van’s fuel gauge is two ticks below empty … and on and on. It’s no wonder we need revival.

Last week, we looked at the steps God encouraged Jacob to take to help revive his faith and his relationship with God. (Arise, go to Bethel, live there and make an altar.) Before leaving for Bethel, Jacob made some key preparations. In Genesis 35:2, God instructs him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments.”

1. Put away the foreign gods. After chapter 34, Jacob had a number of foreign slaves to care for, and naturally they brought their gods and their religious practices with them. Jacob ordered an immediate end to that.

We’re far too sophisticated to worship little statues, right? But … we do have our attention drawn away from God. We do pour our energy into other pursuits. We do turn to other people and things for comfort, for reassurance, for fulfillment.

2. Purify yourselves. This is as simple as confessing sins so God can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3. Change clothes. In the New Testament, Paul talks about exchanging our righteousness for the righteousness of Christ, depicting it like a change of clothes. Later, in Revelation, white garments represent the righteous acts. Changing clothes signifies changing our behavior.

How do you prepare for worship?

Settling for Barley Loaves

By Paula Wiseman

The most famous miracle Jesus performed was the feeding of the 5,000. All four gospels record it, but in John’s account there is a small detail the others don’t include. He records in chapter 6, verse 9 that the loaves Jesus used were barley loaves. Barley was a cheap grain. Rich people ate wheat bread. Barley loaves were for poor people. The meal provided was by no means extravagant or impressive. It was adequate and it was filling, something on the order of a modern-day peanut butter sandwich.

Even so, after that, the people followed Jesus around like puppy dogs. They wanted more bread, more barley loaves. What Jesus wanted to give them was beyond their imagination. For almost fifty verses, John records the conversation Jesus had with the crowd, trying in vain to get them to see beyond the bread, to see that in the very same way He had satisfied their physical hunger, He was more than capable of satisfying the deep needs of their souls.

He offered Himself. They settled for barley loaves.

I know I do the same thing. Jesus offers me more. He encourages me to see a bigger picture. He longs to give me a clearer vision of Himself, but I am focused on the here and now, on myself and my comforts and my needs. I respond like the crowd, “Just give me the bread.” The cheap bread. The barley loaves. And I settle.

I determine His words are too hard, His path is too counterculture and I decide to move back out to the fringes of following Him. That’s a dumb move. He has the words of life, the words of eternal life and the words that infuse me with life now.

I’ll miss those words if I settle for hanging back, digging through a basket of leftover barley loaves.

A Covenant, Not a Contract

By Paula Wiseman

So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. (Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT)

As a writer, I’ve had opportunity to enter into a few contracts over the past five or so years. We’ve signed agreements with homes sellers to buy real estate from them. We’ve accepted bids from contractors to do work for us. We even have an informal arrangement with our son to cut the grass. He mows. We give him twenty dollars.

We like contracts. They seem instinctive and natural and ultimately fair or else we wouldn’t be a part of them. They are everywhere. The news is full of stories of athletes negotiating the terms they’ll play under, and of unions seeking the best terms for their members. Loan agreements are contracts. Even the terms of use for your favorite website are a contract spelling out the services provided and the limits of those services.

Because contracts are such a common part of our dealings, we often fall into a trap of thinking our relationship with God is like a contract. If we pay with the proper obedience and devotion then God will, in turn, render the necessary service of providing answers to prayers, or bestowing blessings or what have you. If we fail, then He responds with judgment or a curse or mild irritations depending on the offense and its severity.

You can hear it in subtle “if … then” statements. If I have more faith, then God will hear my prayers. If I stop swearing for a month then God will help me find a job. That is the language of contracts and God doesn’t make contracts. He makes covenants.

God’s covenants rely solely on His holiness for fulfillment. He doesn’t require anything from us but acceptance of the terms. They are eternally binding and utterly unbreakable. When Jesus makes a statement like, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life,” (John 5:24 NKJV), He’s making a covenant. We just accept the terms and it is irrevocable. When He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV), that’s a covenant that we cannot undo, not with actions or words or attitudes.

God knows our frailties. He knows that if our salvation, our blessings or any of His good gifts depended on our ability to keep up our end of a contract we would be left destitute. His boundless love and His infinite grace won’t allow that. He takes all the responsibility on Himself. We just have to accept it.

Building Grace

By Paula Wiseman

We roofed a house last week. Hot. Strenuous. Truly a learning experience. (First lesson – I don’t want to roof houses for a living.) The first day was the most critical, because after all the old shingles were ripped off, the wooden roof decking was exposed and the house was vulnerable. That is, until we covered it with underlayment. Ours was stamped all over with the word “GRACE.”

I thought how fitting. Not only does GRACE protect and cover the flaws and vulnerabilities of the roof, defending it from all kinds of attack – sun, rain, critters, you name it … GRACE provides the foundation for the shingles.

God’s grace does that for us as well.

We are under grace. Romans 6:14 says so. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

And we build with it. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. (1 Corinthians 3:10)

Grace provides the foundation for our salvation, for our daily walk and for our eternity. I love the way God used something as mundane as roofing material to remind me.

What ordinary things have reminded you of God’s goodness lately?

Witnessing a New Birth

By Paula Wiseman

“And the Lord was adding to their number day by day” Acts 2:47 (NAS)

The last two weeks I’ve spent some time teaching at church camp, teenagers last week and grade school kids this week.

When I got there yesterday, the chapel was mostly empty ahead of a large group teaching session. Mostly. Up near the front of the room, the camp pastor sat with a couple of kids and teenaged helpers. I caught snatches of the conversation – “Romans,” and “all have sinned,” that kind of stuff – and I realized I was watching a birth. A new birth.

I was struck by two things about the scene in front of me. First of all, it was a gift to be able to witness it. I find it is so easy to get wrapped up in other details (like having both cars in the shop and having to put a roof on) … that the amazing wonder of another precious human being being rescued from eternal judgment by a God who willingly sacrificed Himself to make that happen because of His boundless love … isn’t as amazing as it should be. Shame on me.

Second, what made the scene unique and honestly brought tears to my eyes was the support the other kids were showing to the one the pastor was working with. They hugged her. They put a hand on her back. They paced and prayed. They were like a little group of spiritual midwives trying to help the birth in any way they could. I later found out that one of the kids was barely two hours old herself, but she wanted her friend to know and experience the salvation that she had. How awesome is that?

So once again, God taught the teacher more than anyone else. God reminded me that He is at work all around me, but often I choose not to look for the signs. I get so focused on the areas I can’t see Him working that I miss the good stuff. “And,” He says, “Trust Me, there is good stuff.”

When was the last new birth you witnessed (or assisted with)?