A Neccessary Truth

3 posts since January that could basically be summed up by 3 words: I gave up.  I don’t mean the throw-in-the-towel, raise-the-white-flag, walk-away-all-together type of giving up.  I mean the giving up when you just kind of decide that maybe the time and effort and sacrifice may not be worth it.  When it feels like there’s a whole world of voices and that yours just gets drowned out.  When you think that you’re not good enough, not eloquent enough, not strong enough, smart enough, fill-in-the-blank enough’s that are run through.  The giving up when we aren’t sure where our place is, how we fit in or where we even belong so we step back and give up for a moment.  Maybe indefinitely or maybe just until we can catch our breathe. 

Honestly, I’d rather you not know that.  But I’m being completely vulnerable because… well, I think we’ve all uttered those 3 words of giving up before.  I think that the condition of our world reflects a people who have been living those words, made a lifestyle of those words, and the enemy has twisted our aching hearts into a complete frenzy.  We are a people who feel overlooked, misunderstood, unseen, unwanted, and set aside.  A people who feel their voice doesn’t matter so we make the choice to shout louder or get painfully quiet.  A people who have given up hope in a battle-fighting God, who are now striving to gain victory on our own terms and standards. 

Whether it’s because I’m a homeschooling mama or just a mama of three very individual hearts that we’ve been entrusted to raise, something I read recently struck a chord.   It was the thought that if we are intentional to allow our children to know that they are a necessary part of the family that they won’t venture to find other places to be needed.  We all have a desire within our hearts to be needed.  We will all fill that desire one way or another, whether it’s for our own good or not.  Over the past several weeks I’ve allowed this to change the way I relate to our kids.  I want them to know without a doubt that they are a necessary part of this family and that their role is one only they can fill.  And wouldn’t you know that as I have molded my parenting around this thought, my Heavenly Father has gently been working to show me how necessary I am to the work of His Kingdom.  Where I convinced myself that everyone has a blog, everyone has an opinion, and it just seemed like maybe silence felt safer, more comfortable and just plain easier.  Where I had enough of all the feelings, all the talking and chatter.  The place where I wanted to say goodbye to the newsfeeds instead of risk being drowned in them.  I gave up.

The gift that God chose to give me is necessary.  That’s the truth whether I choose to believe it or act upon it or not.  God reminded me that my voice, no matter how insignificant I feel it is, matters in the eternal picture for the Kingdom. Same is true for you.  


In the book of Luke, when Jesus sent his disciples to bring him back a colt, the owner of it simply gave the gift because the Lord was in need of it.  He didn't need an explanation or to understand what it would be used for. 

"But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, 'Why are you loosing the colt?'  And they said, 'The Lord has a need of him.'  Then they brought him to Jesus..."  Luke 19:32-34

 

As Jesus-followers, we need to regain our focus.  We need to make it our mission to be sure that those God has placed in our path know the Truth.  Instead of calling them out, shaming their name, shouting over top of their cries, may we humble ourselves and help them to know that they belong in the Kingdom.  When God’s people understand that they are a necessary part of His family, they will lose the need to fulfill the desire to be needed with other, lesser gods and choices that lead to destruction.  We will see hands that begin to let go of the posters, the drugs, the guns, the stances, pumping in protest and the need to be heard, in exchange for open hands ready to serve, love, and worship. 

The gift God gave you is necessary. 

You’re LIFE and EXISTENCE are NECESSARY. 

If we all would come to understand this truth about ourselves, maybe all the endless things we protest, argue, rally around and spill blood over would come to an end.  

Under all the hype,  
behind every poster held high,
within the breath of every voice in the crowd,
next to the wall built to hide the pain,
heard in the heart beat of the one who dares not speak,
inside the soul of every person that kneels and every one that stands,
held in the blood pouring out of a life lost to injustice,
to the tear stained face of the grieving loved one…

                                             
                                                                 is a LIFE that is NEEDED in the Kingdom of God. 

Don’t give up. 
Don’t doubt your individual role.
Don’t question your unique, fearfully made life. 

You are NEEDED. 

                               …by a God who is a battle-winning King, a Good Father, and loving Savior. 
                                  

No Greater Gift

You’ve planned and prepared for this day, covered every detail, and made sure every significant person in your lives was invited.  It’s been months of preparation, deciding and sacrificing so that this day would be memorable.  This day, in all its beauty, has been given to you as a gift from the One who brought you to this moment: to behold, to treasure, to remember.

May you recognize your marriage as a gift – a divine, sacred moment when two individual lives were brought together to unite as one and walk the narrow path, leading to Life, hand in hand.  Do not take this miraculous occurrence for granted.  Do not compare this gift to others around you.  Instead, embrace it as the unique love God has abundantly blessed you with out of the storehouse of His riches.

Live this new life intentionally, understanding that your lives are different now and connected in a way that they had not been before.  Your strength comes from within your unity – alone you were once easily overpowered, but together and with God you cannot be broken.

Seasons of life will bring change, a constant and continual uprooting of where you may learn to find comfort and think you have established, know that this is normal– and make the changes together as you find your footing in the unchanging promises of God.

Hard times will surely come, you will be stretched thin and you will have little left to give.  These are the times when most others walk out.  May you allow these moments to bring you closer to one another and to God.  Knowing that as He allows you to go through these times, He will comfort you, sustain you, provide for you and grow your love for one another as you remain in Him.

Marriage offers the gift of seeing the worst in each other and being able to love one another even more so because of this.  It requires aggressive forgiveness and the opportunity to extend grace to the one you love more than life itself.  When one of you falls short, understand that it is as though you are the one in need of grace and extend it – fully, without reservation.  Gently and humbly lead one another back to the cross if one of you should stray.

The gift of your love is not only to be treasured by you, but also to be shared.  Never underestimate God’s power through your marriage.  Allow the bond between you to encourage others to live life with extravagant love. May the joy you find in the adventures ahead of you become contagious and spread to all those who your lives come in contact with.  May your hearts and home be open to those God brings across your path to share life with.

The true beauty of marriage occurs in the years that follow the wedding day.  It’s found in the hands that have learned to hold tightly to each other come what may.  In the eyes that hold a lifetime of stories shared and memories made, and whose simple presence makes life sweeter.  It’s a beauty that comes from a life lived well and lived together.  May you live each moment as a decision to love one another fully and always more so than before.  There is no greater adventure for you to experience and no greater gift than to walk through life with your best friend at your side.

Like and Follow Jesus

It all started with a desire for a connection that was quick and convenient.  Smart phones, social media, all the latest hype has filtrated our everyday and become custom.  It’s accepted as ordinary and possibly even necessary to follow suit and follow statuses.  We turn to one device to do it all, a single station that goes with us anywhere and responds at a moment’s notice.  Friend request and group approval.  The weather report.  Mail.  Favorite Book.  Calendar.  Planner.  Devotions.  Games.  How-to videos.  Banking.  Bible.  Sure it’s simplified our lives and connected us in a superficial way, but every extraordinary thing has its downfall. 

Our relationships are…

           Our view of God is…

                          Our witness is…                  all falling and failing. 

This so-called Jesus extending his hand that says “like if you need prayer”, or one of the more popular images that say “Comment Amen if you love Jesus, ignore and keep scrolling and you don’t!”  Us Christ followers are quick to to click and “like” and share and scroll.  But do we realize that by clicking “like” and sharing these silly things, we are handing that example of shallow religion down to the next generation?

How often does a person who is in our realm of influence reach out for help through a post and we simply type “Praying for you” or “Prayers sent” and continue scrolling or move right along in our day?  It’s almost as though prayer has become more of a catchphrase than a commission. 

It’s this shallow religion that has plagued Christianity and created a people who have strayed far away from the true meaning of church, of following Jesus, and of what it means to carry our cross.  Unfortunately so many of us have conformed to it, that we no longer discern a Truth-founded, holy, good thing from a world-created, distracting, seemingly-good thing. 

We readily stare at our screens when life is moving forward around us and we are quick to “like” and “share” and type a quick “praying for you.”  But is that enough?  Does that really reach the person who is desperate for a life-line? 

                When a mother is holding her dying child.

                When a son just said goodbye to his father.

                When a marriage is falling apart.

                When the disease is diagnosed.

                When a home and safe haven is lost in the fire.

                When the provider of the family is without a job.

                When help is being begged through body language and verbal clues.   

All of these things and more that are normal experiences in this earthly life that have the power to either utterly destroy us or lead us to an undeniable faith.  I don’t know that a simple “Prayers sent” reply is just enough.  We are to be the salt of the earth, a light on a hill, a people who are sent to break chains and shatter darkness, but are we walking out our purpose?  

Are we allowing the purpose of Christ to inconvenience us? 

Are we allowing His love to freely flow through us, undisturbed by our distractions?

I’m certain that when Jesus called the 12 disciples, who were ordinary guys just doing what they knew to do and living pretty typical lives, when Jesus said “Come, follow me,” that it was not a convenient thing.  It wasn't a simple click of a button and they'd be following the King.  I’m certain that it wasn’t comfortable or anything they could have expected to happen to them that day.  When we read the stories of where it was that they followed Jesus to, how he worked through them, the miracles that they were a witness to, the life-breathing words that they spoke, the dusty roads that they walked and the messed-up people that they encountered. I’m certain that it wasn’t anything they could have predicted.  People talked, people misunderstood them and criticized them – it wasn’t easy.  It wasn’t safe.  It wasn’t hidden.  It wasn’t edited.  It could not be filtered.  They were far from perfect.  Jesus said to follow and they did.   

Now we’re able to hide behind a screen, we’re able to scroll further or sit down our devices and forget, we’re able to walk out of the building Sunday morning and go back to what’s comfortable.  We juggle our busyness to keep things most convenient for ourselves, and we’ve become masters at performing and pretending that we are okay and that we’ve got this. 

When we look at Hebrews 11 which is known for the pillars of faith that it highlights, could our own names be written at the end?  Does our character and the way we surrender our lives to follow Christ fit alongside these faith-filled people that changed history for us and generations to come?

Read Hebrews 11

40 verses testifying to the pillars of faith, the characteristics of their life.  Faith that in some cases enabled them to endure the most horrific torture, hardships and trials; and in others a faith that delivered them from afflictions.  The same faith that delivered some from death, allowed others to die victoriously.   Faith that didn’t guarantee a certain outcome but that did guarantee victory over sin and grave.   Faith that required aggressive prayer and worship, which focused on the ultimate reward and that is the promised Kingdom. 

Could we include ourselves in these pillars of faith?  “vs 41: By faith_____…”  not to add to the Scripture, we know we cannot do that, but to serve as a reminder of the faith we are to have. 

Will your life be characterized as a verse 41 life?

Will we be known as a people who proclaimed the name of Christ?

Are we settling for a shallow religion of going through the motions and saying the right things? 

This isn’t meant to make you feel guilty or make you feel like you may not be good enough or that you haven’t done enough.  No matter where we are at in our walk of faith, we all have room to grow.  We should always take time to step back and check the condition of our hearts and lives, to really buckle down and consider the areas that need our attention and Christ’s redemption.  As long as we are on this earth, He is not finished yet.  Don’t feel guilty.  But don’t be afraid to look at reality. 

God has called us to follow Him.  Even more importantly He has equipped us to be His disciples and to reach a lost, dying world of people desperately in need of a life-line which is Christ.  Through the next few weeks together, we will be taking into consideration the areas of our life where we have conformed to a generic Christianity. 

What are the areas that we need to surrender to the transformative power of Christ, where we walk as disciples who follow Jesus and lead others to do the same?  Like the faith-filled ones whose lives are marked in Hebrews, will our lives be leaving an impression for the sake of Christ even once we’re away?

Jesus is asking us to come, follow Him.  We can be sure that as we do – it will not be easy.  It may not be safe.  It cannot be hidden.  It won’t be edited.  It will not have a filter.  Jesus asks us to follow. 

To leave our past behind, to go where He leads, to give up our lives and our selves for to sake of His Kingdom.  Not to just simply like him and superficially follow him, but to love him and really follow - the surrendering, sacrificing kind of following. 

It may not be quick, I doubt it will be convenient. 

But I do know it will be good and that He will never fall, never fail.    

*This post was part of the “Proclaim!” RE:vive Retreat 2017 | Session 1: Forward by Faith.  All retreat posts can be found in the “Blog Archives” to the right of the screen.  If you would like more information about our annual ladies retreat, please email me at: arburk25@yahoo.com or request to be a part of our Facebook group.

We're Fighting the Wrong Battle

You’re wrong, you know?  But they are too.  In fact we all have it wrong and we’re fighting the wrong battle.  There’s a clear division among our people, a spirit of hostility and arrogance.  One that insists on being right and has no tolerance for anything but his or her own personal view. We are a country divided by a line in the sand that has quickly escalated to a ditch that has proved itself ridden with the dead, dry bones of what once was our sense of dignity and respect for human life.   

This isn’t about “Pro-life” or “Pro-choice” human life either.  This is about each other. 

We’ve all seen endless feeds of marching, protests, riots and political, spiritual, personal views.  We’ve been bombarded with every emotion and forced to face the condition of a war being waged on each and every one of our hearts. It seems we’re all walking around raw, with walls built, ready to defend our stance as we expect to be criticized or judged without a moment’s notice. 

Whether or not you believe in your Creator, He was gracious enough to afford us the gift of choice.  Since the garden we’ve been making our own choices.  At times those choices have given us life and other times they have cost us our lives.  Those choices have had resulted in promises fulfilled and other times caused us to reap the consequences of our fallen-ness.   At no time in history or now has our Creator forced us into a decision or a certain way of life.  He offers us His best, and He honors those who are obedient and faithful, but He has never taken away their freedom to choose their path. 

Over the past few days I, just like all of us, have seen the endless flood of destruction we are causing ourselves as we drown in a sea of division.  Friends and family on both sides of the line: politically, morally, socially, in every way.  And neither side is entirely right.  But neither side is entirely wrong either. 

The beauty of our diversity is that when we peacefully disagree, we allow ourselves to grow.  We allow ourselves to learn from one another, from others who have walked a path that is unknown to us and afford each other the ultimate gift of grace.  I believe we each have a right to our own opinion, our own beliefs, our own religions and our own differences.  We should all believe in this for it is what makes us individuals and united within our differences. 

Unfortunately we’re fighting the wrong battle as we fight against one another:

Tearing down each other to get ahead.

Slandering each other to better our own name.

Screaming at each other to prove our own way is the only way.

Tearing off our dignity to flaunt ourselves into power.

Leaving our own trailed mess as we insist on others seeing our so-called beauty. 

We’ve seen in history many times when people have protested, in a peaceful manner, and had their voices heard which resulted in beneficial changes to our country.  We celebrate a woman who sat down in a single protest for her own right and now that moment marked in time as a shift in our views. Yet she got on that bus and quietly, courageously, boldly took her position.  She didn’t strip down, she didn’t tear apart every other seat and she certainly didn’t set the whole thing ablaze.  We have an entire day in honor of a man who had a dream. He stood and stated his words, his beliefs and his vision with humble pride in a people he truly believed could be inspired to be better and do better.  We can all do better. 

We need to find it within ourselves to breathe life into the ditch of dry bones that we’ve seemingly forgotten.  We need to find the courage to not fight for our views to be the same, they never will be, but instead to restore the decency in human nature.  No matter where we live, what religion we are, what background we come from.  No matter what our race, our social standing, our age… 

We are all CAPABLE of being decent to one another. 

We are all CAPABLE of being respectful of one another’s differences.

We are all CAPABLE of extending grace to those who we may not agree with.

We are all CAPABLE of finding it within our hearts to forgive those we feel wronged us. 

We are all CAPABLE of standing up in protest without defaming anyone else in the process.

We are all CAPABLE of raising our signs and then carrying those signs with us as we go. 

We are all CAPABLE of letting our voices be heard without screaming so loud our voices are drowned. 

We are all CAPABLE of allowing our lives to be our testimony of what we believe in and not forcing our views on every passing person.

We are all CAPABLE of restoring dignity, respect, honor and morality among our people.

….but are we WILLING? 

Are we WILLING to set aside our differences to see human souls, hurting, broken, crying out for help and a place to belong?

Are we WILLING to take a lesser role so that someone more qualified, more able, can fulfill a position needed?

Are we WILLING to humble ourselves and allow the rubbing of elbows, the differences we so beautifully carry to be a beacon of light for positive change in our world?

Are we WILLING to recognize the sacrifices made and honor those deserving of our utmost respect, giving credit where it is due?

It’s time that we consider our ability to restore unity in our people.  We must be willing to take shovelful’s of grace, compassion, consideration, empathy, gentleness, kindness, goodness and genuine love and fill in the ditch that we’ve created.  It’s our choice whether we erase the line in the sand or if we continue downward and allow the ditch to fill with the remains of our broken dreams, promises and lives. 

We’ve all been wrong.  But it’s not too late. 

Our dreams can be revisited, our promises can be reinstated and our lives can be redeemed.

We are capable.  But are we willing?

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”  Ephesians 4:2-3

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1