Galatians 6:1

This week I had the honor of teaching on gentleness/meekness. When I study and prepare to teach a lesson I often find that the best way to learn it is to learn how to apply it. So I thought, “when do I most often struggle with being gentle?” Enter my memory verse for last week: Galatians 6:1 which says:

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, looking to yourself so that you too will not also be tempted.”

This is Paul essentially writing about Biblical rebuking or reproofing – correcting. That is the Biblical principle but calling it that really creates it’s own stumbling block if you ask me. I’ll get into that in a minute. The point here is that Biblical correction goes back to my post about being an “inspector” and not a “judge”. Our motivation should be LOVE and if it is love than we will be more likely to be gentle or meek while doing it, but doing it any other way besides gentle/meek puts makes us sinful in our actions and that negates the verse altogether. 

Which brings me back to my point about the term “Biblical Correction” being a stumbling block. Notice in Galatians 6:1 that the word used is RESTORE.  It doesn’t say CORRECT such a one, it doesn’t say CONDEMN,  it doesn’t say judge or beat over the head with a baseball bat; it says RESTORE.

Study further and you can find that the word “caught”  is the same word used for stumble – a word used to describe Jesus at a certain point – when He physically STUMBLED. How do you help someone who stumbles? You come alongside them,  you help them up, you help them brush themselves off, check for injuries, treat any injuries found and then help them get back on their way. (Need an illustration: think of Jesus when He heals someone, think of Jesus with the woman at the well… basically think of Jesus, period.) That word RESTORE, it is beautiful and it is GENTLE. 

So often, I have found that if you study a passage long enough – you rarely need other passages to clarify what it means.

At first, this verse was talking about correction to me. Then about gentleness. Then about love and in love Restoring. How can you be gentle? You can start by READING the verse carefully and reminding yourself that it says RESTORE, and you can read the verse all the way to the end (don’t cut it off where you find it most convenient – we’re all guilty of that) if you read the whole verse carefully – you’ll be likely to be gentle because you see the word restore AND you see that you are capable of falling too – if you haven’t in the same way already.  How do you restore and restore gently? You come alongside somebody – you bend down to help them up and walk next to them helping to find their way back onto the right path again, you don’t call them up off the ground from a “higher up” position and then get in front of them and tell them to follow you – you’re likely to lead them to stumble over something else – we aren’t Jesus – we can LEAD, but in this case we ought to walk alongside. How do you put yourself in a place where you are equipped and prepared to be able to do all these things? You look at your own self and make sure that YOU aren’t in the process of getting up from your own stumbling incident or worse yet still on the ground waiting for someone to come help you up! And we can STAY prepared, by allowing other people’s falls to warn us and keep us “watchful” so that we aren’t fooled and deceived into the same sinful ways that caused them to stumble. 

God’s Word is ALIVE – it is the Living Word and that is why it will continue to reveal more and more to you each time you study it – EVEN if you are only looking at the same verse… perhaps especially if you are.

This verse was perfect for me this week as I prepared a lesson on gentleness, which I realized ultimately came back to love. I am grateful for the Word of God and for the Holy Spirit revealing it’s meaning to me. What Living Word did you study/memorize this past week? 

Godless Chatter–is it avoidable in a Social Media world?

In a world of Twitter, Facebook and Blogging, where people are given a blank canvas to use their voice: is it possible to be obedient to 2 Timothy 2:16, which says

“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.”?

In my opinion, it is probably possible, but certainly not probable. The likelihood that in a virtual world, where we can hide ourselves from others or blame a “misunderstanding of tone” on the typed word instead of the spoken, we can hold ourselves accountable and be even 50% obedient is not high.

I noticed this myself on Facebook recently. Even some things I posted that could have been considered Godly chatter, were actually meant as a passive aggressive stab at someone or some particular group. Not always – but sometimes it happened.  Does that please or honor God? Probably not. I know for certain that my attitude didn’t please God. And let’s get real honest here: God knows our THOUGHTS – which means that if they are anything but loving and good then they are evil and sinful. How’s that for a little bit of conviction?

God tells us to avoid Godless chatter. AVOID it. Not just “don’t do it; don’t be a Godless chatterer” but AVOID it. Go out of your way not to be ANY part of it.

He says that those who indulge in it (and I am guessing that we are all guilty of it to one degree or another) will become more and more ungodly. The trick with the social media & blogosphere when it comes to avoiding Godless chatter versus indulging in it – is that in the virtual world – it is not quite as easy to just “walk away” from the Godless chatter in the same way that it is easy to walk away from an actual person. In fact, in some instances in social media or the blogosphere – walking away is permanent and can’t just be on a case-by-case basis. For instance, on Twitter – to avoid someone who occasionally tweets Godless chatter – you have to unfollow them – ALL of their tweets – there is no “Godless chatter” filter – boy it would be nice if there were!

But let’s think about what God is saying about those of us who indulge in it – that we will become more and more ungodly.  It makes sense and here is why: we see someone put a cuss word in their status or someone else retweets something about adultery or homosexuality – after a while we stop blushing about it or getting offended by it and just accept it, shrug it off or turn a blind eye. Doesn’t that make us look like the rest of the world to a certain degree? And that right there makes us less godly. Remember we are to be living IN the world NOT of it. That MUST look different… in OBVIOUS WAYS!

So what do we do? What is the solution? I don’t know if we should be getting off of Facebook. If we should stop tweeting or blogging altogether. What I do know is that God says to AVOID GODLESS CHATTER. For me that meant getting rid of Facebook altogether. But I still tweet and (obviously) blog. The blogosphere is somewhat easy – I can choose what to read and what not to read – I become familiar with who is involved in Godless chatter on their blog and adjust what I read accordingly. And, I can very easily control my own writing because I purpose to write Godly things – PLUS I believe that blogging removes the element of response and therefore also the stumbling block and temptation for being passive aggressive or sinful in any other way (in thought or deed). 

But what about Twitter? Where is that line? For me, it is in unfollowing people who usually tweet only Godless chatter. For me, it means that if I would not want God to see what I am reading – then it is probably time to stop following that person. Now granted, it’s going to happen from time to time and not necessarily be a pattern – because nobody is perfect. But at what point do I “walk away” – for me if it happens more than once a week, it’s time to say good-bye. Godless chatter will slowly, deceptively pull me from being more Godly to being less Godly and I have to do whatever it takes to move in the right direction. Even if that means feeling left-out or lonely or different. 

Ironically, when studying this verse I realized that the opposite of the world – being In NOT Of - would be making the “Unfollow” button my “Friend” and then blogging about it.

I encourage you to meditate on this scripture. To pray about it and let God speak to you about what He wants you to do with it. Is there anyone you should “unfollow” any accounts you should just go ahead and delete? “The Lord is Near” it says this over and over in the Bible – He is near… now is the time – don’t wait. Just do it – be obedient – be ready!

Inspector not Judge

I read something profound today, a quote from Dr. Jim McGinley which said,

“I am not to judge you, but I am a fruit inspector, and I have a right to look at the fruit you are producing.”

What does it mean? Well here goes:

To me it can be broken down into two things:

First, we are not to judge others. Not other Christians, not the unsaved. We are not judges there is only one judge – and we are not Him. But I have struggled with what we do then, what do we call it when we need to Biblically, lovingly, gently, meekly rebuke a brother or sister in Christ. OR – what do we do when someone has NO FRUIT whatsoever and we believe that they may not be saved? What is it that we are doing, if not judging someone else, when we question salvation or put into action Galatians 6:1 which says, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted”? 

And this is where the second part comes in: we aren’t judges, we are inspectors. As brothers and sisters in Christ we should want to help a brother or sister who has stumbled in some way. We should want to bend over, help them up and brush them off and assist them back onto their walk. Our motive should be love. Our method should be love; and that love includes gentleness, meekness, kindness, goodness, patience (is this starting to sound familiar?) The second point is the Fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 it says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Well, my friend – THERE is the second point. We aren’t judges – we are inspectors. As fellow Christians we not only have a right, but a God-given command to be inspectors – to inspect the fruit of our brothers and sisters and if the fruit is either not being produced or something about it is funky, we ought to help them figure out the problem so they can get back on to producing the fruit that God has for them to produce. This fruit – this is part of the “profit” that we make from the original “talent” that God gave us to be good stewards of. (see Matthew 25:14-30 – Parable of the Talents). This “profit” we earn from the “talents” we are given will gain us rewards in heaven. So, out of love, we should want our fellow brothers and sisters to have their treasure/reward in heaven stored up to the ceiling if we can help it (and we can).

But the dilemma is that when we put Galatians 6:1 into action, we often come across as judges instead of loving inspectors. Why? Well, go back to the second point – fruit of the Spirit. It says fruit of the Spirit IS LOVE and that love manifests itself in the others listed (kindness, meekness, gentleness, etc.) and if you go back to Galatians 6:1 it makes that point all on it's own really, we just have to SEE it and UNDERSTAND it. It says in Galatians 6:1 – “each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” It is saying that we can fall into the same sin – we can stumble over the same thing our brother or sister has AND if we aren’t very CAREFUL – and our motive isn’t LOVE… let me say it again – if our motive isn’t love – then there is a good chance that as an inspector we will ALREADY be guilty of the  “us too being tempted” part of Galatians 6:1 – we will be sinning by acting out of something besides love and then we have no way to be good inspectors.  

We aren’t the judge – we are the loving inspectors that want to get the disease (sin) out of the fruit so that it can be produced and make a profit (treasure in heaven) for our brother or sister (a fellow branch on the Vine). But we are ONLY inspectors when our motivation is LOVE for the OTHER person and a desire out of that love to restore a person to Christ. If that is not our motivation, then we are playing the Judge and we are not He. When our motivation is not in line with God then we ought to just stay quiet, and actively SHOW  love to that person because “love covers a multitude of sin” (1 Peter 4:8). (Note: I believe we can SHOW love, when love as our motivation is not present – I believe they are separate.)

Now, I don’t know about you – but the idea of being a Fruit Inspector and not a Judge really helped me “get it”! Praise God for His powerful Word that really does give us everything we need to know! Sometimes I just need a little help connecting the dots.

My Lent Journal (www.myreLENTlessacts.blogspot.com)

I don’t want to crowd this blog with all of my journaling about this challenge – so I have decided to keep my reLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice Challenge Journal separate – you can find it at www.myreLENTlessacts.blogspot.com.

I will, however, post links to each new entry I make on my Challenge Journal so that you can hop over and take a look if you’d like!

Here is the link to my first Entry: “Defining (my) Sacrifice”

What I am doing for Lent: reLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice

I always get about a week away from the beginning of Lent not knowing what I will fast from or what I will replace it with. You see, for many, the journey of Lent ends with what they fast from. But when Jesus fasted from food for 40 days and 40 nights He was sustained by God. If we expect to be sustained, and more to grow, then we need to fill in what is missing with God. (Reading His Word, Praying, etc)

A few days ago I saw a tweet by World Vision about a Lent Challenge they were doing called reLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice. I thought I would check it out to see if it would give me any ideas. And it turns out it gave me THE idea for my Lent fast this year.

The ACT:S of Sacrifice Lent Challenge by World Vision offers an opportunity not only to grow in Christ but to become more like Him!

It adds an element that I had never considered making part of my Lent fast. And that element is helping those who are in need: widows, orphans, the poor, the needy, the hungry. For example: I could give up my pedicures and use the money I save to feed the hungry or clothe the poor. That’s not what I am doing, but that gives you the idea.

I prayed about it. And then I received our first challenge via email:

reLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice: CHALLENGE #1:

Read Romans 12:1-2 then to prepare for Lent define what it means to sacrifice and ask yourself “what are you willing to sacrifice?”

DEFINE SACRIFICE:

Dictionary.com offers several definitions for the word – but this one most closely represented the type of sacrifice we are talking about:

the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

Romans 12:1-2 says this:

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So the question becomes not WHAT can I sacrifice but what sacrifice will allow me to be an acceptable living sacrifice that pleases God?

I prayed some more and found these verses:

Proverbs 19:15:

“Laziness casts into a deep sleep,
And an idle man will suffer hunger.”

Proverbs 20:13:

“Do not love sleep, or you will become poor;
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food”

Proverbs 31:15 – describing the Excellent Wife who pleases the Lord in how she tends to her first and primary ministry: her family:

“She rises also while it is still night…”

What will I sacrifice for the reLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice this Lent?

I will sacrifice my sleep.

In the next 6 weeks I will wake up 15 minutes earlier each week, ending with a final wake-up time of 5:15am. I will use the time I have awake to study God’s word, to pray, to renew my mind, to honor Him, worship Him and find the right ways to daily live my life as a sacrifice to Him.

Because I will use the morning hours when I am awake to do these things, I will also have more time available during the rest of the day when I normally would have done so. I will use that time to honor God by serving those who are in need. I don’t know what that is going to look like exactly, but I look forward to sharing with you what God shows me.

So, that’s what I am doing for Lent. What are you doing? Share it with me in the comments section!!

Lent–I love it.

I grew up in a church that recognized the season of Lent. (If you are not familiar with Lent – here is a great blog about it http://blog.worldvisionacts.org/2012/02/a-revolutionary-lent/) But in my current church, Lent is mainly unknown as a season, yet I still recognize it and participate in some of the traditions.

Lent (in a nutshell) marks the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a season marked with tradition and ritual – in which many people choose to give up something (a type of fasting if you will). This concept of fasting started as a way to sacrifice in order to honor God. Nowadays, it seems more like a tradition we keep in order to better ourselves – taking God almost completely out of the equation.

I love Lent. I love Easter. For so many reasons. There is the obvious one, which is that Easter marks the day that Jesus rose from the grave which means He was an acceptable sacrifice once for all for the forgiveness of sins making you and I able to be reconciled to our Heavenly Father and justified before His judgment.

But the not so obvious reasons (unless you know me well) are two-fold. First, I enjoy a time that offers the opportunity to grow spiritually. These 40 days of Lent are a highly concentrated Spiritual growth opportunity , that if approached correctly, can lead to a permanent change in our Spiritual journey and walk with God.  I love it!

I also love Lent because it marks my journey to salvation. One particular lent as a teenager I got involved in a Youth group. The youth group encouraged us to sacrifice something that would allow us to get closer to God. Whatever we gave up had to be replaced with God somehow. I took part in the challenge, which marked its’ end with a Youth Lock-In. At the lock-in, each of us got a one or two-hour shift to be completely alone in the sanctuary. My shift was from 1-3am. I sat in the dimly lit sanctuary and decided to pull out a Bible and read the Easter story in each Gospel.

I am sure that the Holy Spirit had been preparing my heart for this moment my entire life, but He got an especially softened heart to work with during this particular Lent, and I believe that as a result of the extra preparation that the Holy Spirit was able to do in my softened heart that I was ready at that moment in the sanctuary to respond to the salvation that Christ offered.

I was saved at a Youth lock-in, during Lent, right before Easter. I love Lent.

Tomorrow marks day one of this 40 Day journey that I love so much and I have something special planned. I will share what that is in my next post (which will be posted later today in case you want to take this journey with me)! 

Galatians 5:22-23 & Romans 5:8

This week I had two memory verses.  I could have done a better job studying the verses, but I think I memorized them well. Here we go:

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law.

Romans 5:8

But God shows demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

And just so we can see if I retained last week’s verses:

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

So, how did you do this week? What verse did you memorize? Share it with all of us in the comments section!

This week’s Twitter Thoughts–2/13/2012

A lot of what I used to post on Facebook actually came through my Twitter feed. They were some of the most thought-provoking or inspiring one-liners that I posted. I often heard back from friends about how convicting they were and so I will keep it up on this blog, but I will only do it once per week so I don’t flood the blogosphere with multiple one-liner blog posts. Here are the best of this week’s Twitter Thoughts:

Heaven is not for people who are scared of hell, it's for people who love God (By @danrutty)

Baptized parents are either Lost, Converts, or Disciples. Tell Converts that most of their children will live like the Lost as adults. (@richardaross)

Peace is not the absence of affliction, but the presence of God (@lovlikeJesus)

Nothing we can do can change God's faithfulness but greater obedience can bring greater blessing & better rewards in heaven. (@SYMsoulcare)

"Trusting God always involves having some unanswered questions in your life." (@JoyceMeyer)

Faith leads to obedience, and unbelief leads to disobedience. J. Vernon McGee: Thru the #Bible Commentary: (Mine)

Anything that is contrary to the character and will of God is sin, regardless of what it is. McGee: Thru the #Bible Commentary (Mine)

we live in God’s universe; breathe His air & enjoy His sun. He never sends a bill 4 it or the life He gave us We owe Him & we r 2 obey Him. (Mine)

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(THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL BY @RickWarren of Saddleback Church for Valentine’s Day)

"I'll ACT loving when I FEEL it" is backwards. Act your way into feeling. Dont wait to feel before acting. #RickLoveAdvice7

Love CREATES emotion,but love isnt a feeling.Love is a CHOICE. If u act loving the,feelings will return. #RickLoveAdvice6

If there was more courting in marriages there'd be fewer marriages in court. Date your mate. #RickLoveAdvice

You spell love T.I.M.E. How you use your time reveals what you love. #RickLoveAdvice

Given the right situation,any 2 people can fall in love, but marriage requires far more than love to work #RickLoveAdvice14

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Ultimately the question that will identify you as a fan or follower isn't what you say or what you do. Those things matter, but only to the extent that they reflect the answer to this question: Do I know Jesus and does He know me? (@Iamnotafan)

“It's necessary to understand that God isn't going to replace suffering with glory; rather He will transform suffering into glory.” -Chuck Swindoll (@Iamnotafan)

Jesus identifies His true followers based upon an intimate relationship. What we say and what we do overflows out of the relationship we have with Him. (@iamnotafan)

When Jesus walked by, would you have clamored for benefits from Him--or would you have left everything to follow Him? And today? (@richardaross)

Jesus DIDNT give his life for you so you could keep livng for yourself! (2 Cor.5:15 = a purpose driven life) (@RickWarren)

'He died for ALL, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them" 2 Cor.5:15 (@RickWarren)

The time is rapidly approaching when each one is going to have to make their choice, Christ or the world. God is asking, what's it gonna be? (@women_of_Christ)

"Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys" -Billy Graham (@WorldVisionUSA)

Valentine’s Day & Love

Ahhh, Valentine’s Day.

There are so many thoughts that I could share with you – especially because so much of our walk revolves around love – love for our spouse, love for each other, love for our neighbor, love for our enemies – what love looks like and how God defines it and commands it – there is a LOT I could write. In fact, I could probably post one entry a day for an entire year (or more) on love alone. (Don’t worry, I won’t).

But what I grasped today was that before ANY of that love can even begin to be addressed  we must first love God.

In the movie Fireproof there is a great scene – it is called “The Cross” http://youtu.be/GUNGW-KyKFk. (Side Note if you have not seen Fireproof – SEE IT. It is a great option for a Valentine’s Day/Night movie and not just for married couples – singles can get an important message from the movie too). Anyway – the particular scene I am thinking of begins at the 3:00 minute mark in the link above. And to paraphrase, it says this: we cannot love – truly love – anyone until we know God, who IS love. 

If we want to experience love, if we want to love others the way we ought to, the way God tells us  commands us to – then we need to KNOW HIM first and foremost. And I don’t mean check the box that says, “Yep I’m saved, I know Him.” I mean really KNOW Him, intimately – as in,  if He was a human you could know Him well enough to call Him your best friend.

Do you know Him that well? Did you? Have you grown apart? Perhaps fallen out-of-love with Him?

When I think of love – I think of 1 Corinthians 13 –  you know the one, it gets to the part that says “love is patient, love is kind…” love is a lot of the things that I am not. And because of that, these verses are also usually a point of much conviction.  When I read it I realize how short I fall in how I love – and as hard as I work at it – I know that I can’t and won’t get better at it without Jesus Christ. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit within me that I have received by knowing Jesus Christ that I will ever be able to love the way He loves – which is what He calls me to do.

So this Valentine’s Day – there are a lot of thoughts I have about love – but they are all superfluous without the most important thought – which is of the love of Jesus Christ.

So today – I share that with you. And challenge us to use this Valentine’s Day as a reminder to remember who our first love is, and to actively love Him through our obedience and submissiveness which will ultimately manifest itself (at least in part) as love.

Romans 12:9-21

Scripture memorization is an important part of our walk. This week, my memory verse was pretty long, but God allowed it to be applied in SO MANY ways, that it was impossible for me NOT to learn it. (With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. –Matthew 19:26)

It is also the main verse for the Sunday School lesson I prepared for my High School girl’s class tomorrow morning. (They don’t always line up, but this week they did). The lesson is about GOODNESS as a Fruit of the Spirit (from Galatians 5:22-23). In these verses, Paul illustrates goodness; he shows what goodness should look like.  I was challenged this week to learn exactly what he meant and given plenty of opportunities to apply it to my own life. And now that the verses are memorized, I am equipped to remember, recall and apply them any time I need them – my sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) – and judging by how often they were applicable this week alone, I have a feeling I won’t be lacking in opportunities to draw this particular sword again!

I encourage you to pick a verse to memorize next week. You can do it – I know it doesn’t seem like it; with everything else you have going on – who can find the time? But trust me: I have a baby who was sick most of this week, I mentor a young woman each Monday, I teach Sunday School each Sunday, I had family in town half of this week and managed our home like I always do everyday, but even with all of that happening this week I was able to memorize 12 verses. It IS do-able; you can do it, God can enable you through the power of the Holy Spirit – ask Him to help you!  

Post the verse(s) you plan on memorizing this week in the comments section and we can check in again next week and see how we all did!

(I have typed my memory verse out by memory. The texts in blue are the corrections I had to make after checking the verse). 

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right and proper in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat  feed him; if he is thirsty give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:9-21

Honoring God with our bodies

As a mom of a little girl (very little, our daughter Ali is only 10 months old) I look around and see what young girls wear these days; how they dress and it scares me. 95% of the girls I see are clearly NOT honoring God in the way they dress.  It’s only one piece of a larger puzzle (how we honor God with our bodies), but it concerns this mommy that young girls dress in such an unwholesome, and really impure way starting at such a young age. Some eight-year-olds I know look like they are eighT-EEN! How we dress isn’t just a matter of what is on the outside, but it is a matter of what is on the inside. It is, essentially a heart issue.

I know I am a little ahead of the eight ball with this issue, but I want to be equipped, prepared, and prayerful about how I will handle this issue when my little girl becomes a not-so-little girl. AND, I personally, need to equip myself so that I can be a role model for her. That means I need to honor God with my own body, including the way I dress.

Earlier this year I found a few articles and a book about this issue and posted it on Facebook. (You know something is a “hot button” topic when you get more than 5 comments on a post… I had 11).

Yesterday, however, I saw a link to this interview with a Victoria’s Secret model who decided to quit – because she felt that she was not honoring God with her body. I am glad there are women out there (especially young women) who are willing to take these steps and call them what they are… not just a way to be a “good role model” in a worldly sense, but a way to “Honor God” as a Christian.

Here is a link to that interview below as well as other links to the articles I had found earlier this year on the same subject and finally some other helpful resources for any woman trying to live a life that is modest, pure and essentially honors God!

The link to the GMA interview with a former Victoria’s Secret “Angel”.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/02/victorias-secret-model-quits-to-reserve-body-for-my-husband/

Two articles on the Momlife Today Blog about Modesty: 

http://www.momlifetoday.com/2011/06/should-my-daughter-have-to-wear-a-one-piece-to-youth-group-swim-party/

http://www.momlifetoday.com/2012/01/fashioned-by-faith-2/

A great website for both young girls AND their mom’s to help live and be equipped to live lives of modesty & purity: www.purefreedom.org

One last website – not all content is about modesty/purity but it started there and it covers it often. The site is called “Project Inspired” and was started by former Fashion Model, Nicole Weider because she “believes it’s time for a Hollywood voice to take the best interests of young women to heart. From relationship and style advice to inspirational quotes to a real look at celebrities in the media, Nicole draws from her own experiences to make the message clear to young women: Be a person of value and confidence – be your own best self – through leading a true Christian life.” – I love again, that she includes this most important KEY. Check it out: www.projectinspired.com

Why this blog?

I started this blog because I had to make a hard, but prayerful decision to get off of Facebook. I had been finding that Facebook was the source of many stumbling blocks, temptations, sinful thoughts and sometimes actions both on my part and others.

As I prayed about it and weighed the pros and cons it came down to Matthew 5:30, which [paraphrased] says that if there is something in your life causing you to sin, then you must cut it off; it is better to live right without it, than to sin with it. The scripture uses the example of your hand; the truth is, you use your hand for a lot of good things, but if it causes you to sin, than you are better to live without it (even the good things) than to sin because of it.

I have purposed and become intentional about living my life in a way that is obedient to God, a life that both pleases and honors the One who gave me my life. What does that look like? Well, for me it looks like a life lived IN but NOT OF this World. I'm not going to lie, often choosing to live this way garners some judgment, condemnation from others, persecution and looks that make me wonder if I have 3 heads instead of one. It is very often the opposite of what the world teaches and goes against our very nature. But I choose to live this way in spite of those things because I look forward to the day when my crosses which I bear on Earth (Luke 9:23) are turned into crowns in Eternity (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

I grow daily. I never get it perfect. I try to fight the good fight, but I get a black-eye once in a while. I aim to finish the race, but occasionally I find myself with a cramp. But, I find encouragement, comfort and help from fellow Believers and I want to do the same for others.

I used to post the encouragement I received, convictions I had, lessons God was teaching me or any number of other things that I hoped to encourage other believers using Facebook; and when I decided to leave, several people said they would miss those posts. To be perfectly honest, I will miss those posts. They helped others know what my walk was looking like, and helped my Christian family of fellow believers hold me accountable. That's where this Blog comes in.

Some posts will be my own (I will be the author of a personal experience – conviction, lesson learned, etc.), others will be things I share that I have found on other sources like Twitter, Blogs or websites. (I will always point you back to the source of what I share.)

It is my prayer that we will find this blog to be a source of encouragement, motivation, conviction, and inspiration as we strive together daily as the Body of Christ to live IN NOT OF.