Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

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When Silence Isn’t Golden: Receiving Christ’s Call to Racial Reconciliation

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I turned on the news after hearing that major riots were going on in our neighboring city of Baltimore, MD. I watched, horrified, at the images and videos showing a city going up in flames due to injustice, abuse of control, anger, and pain.

As I watched my Facebook news feed fill with articles, opinions, and commentary, I felt the need to quiet myself from all the noise around the media regarding this event and process what is going on in our nation.

One thing I understand: What it is like to be a mother and worry about your children’s safety. I want to understand what the mothers of Baltimore are going through right now.

I weep when I consider the pain, anger, and fear that would come to me if I knew my children were being viewed with suspicion and even called out as criminals and other horrible names, labeled and stigmatized due to the color of their skin or the neighborhood they live in.

Over the last week, I have found myself pondering silently in prayer, “Lord, what can I do?”  It’s easy to feel helpless, tongue-tied, and stifled into silence by the surge of opinions that come crashing at us all around.

But this is not a reason to be quiet. When injustice is happening around us, the Church of God needs to not only say something but do something about it.

It may be easy to justify inaction with the “That’s going on other there – not here” approach, which would be totally wrong.

My two oldest daughters learned this year about the Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education that make segregation by race unconstitutional. And yet segregation and racism cannot be snuffed out by law. It must be eradicated by confession of sin, personal human choice and loving interactions on a one-on-one basis.

As my pastor pointed out at church a few Sundays ago in an impassioned plea to our congregation, we can’t confuse ethnic diversity with racial reconciliation. We can live cordially across the street, work together in the same office, have our children in the same school or sports team, and yet still fail to understand each other and care for one another in deeper, life-giving ways.

Racial Reconciliation: A Calling of All Who Believe

Racism is no new issue. It has been a problem from the beginning and even the early church had it’s fill of “Jew vs. Gentile” issues.  But Christ has made it clear that He died to unite all flesh under the banner of His cross of atoning love and forgiveness. His blood shed reconciles not only man to God but man to man.

The Word of God is replete with passages that emphasize the need for reconciliation and that God is not a God of elitism or favoritism based on gender, race, nationality, or social class.

“Then Peter began to speak: “In truth, I understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him” Acts 10:34-35.

“…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:21).

“This is my command. Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

What We Can Do to Live a Life of Racial Reconciliation

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I’ve thought a lot these past few weeks about what I can do to advance the cause of racial reconciliation in our nation. Each of us play a part either for or against this cause.

Here are some things that I have come up with:

1) Love My Neighbors – this doesn’t mean simply acknowledging them or being cordial or kind or even doing nice things for them (although all of that is great).

In this regard, it means going out of my way to seek to understand what others are going through and to engage in a much-needed dialogue with those who are hurting and in pain.

It also means intentionally pursuing relationships with those who are different from me and learning to appreciate and enjoy those differences more fully.

2) Speak Out Against Injustice – Martin Luther King Jr. said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As Christians, we are to love justice and pray for God’s justice to reign in our lives and our nation.

3) Educate My Children – I grew up in a predominately white school and didn’t have an African-American friend until I was in college. This is not something I can change. I can, however, seek to make things different for my children. We are blessed to live in a diverse neighborhood. We are seeking to educate them about the history of racial pain and inequality in our nation and encouraging them to make a difference in their generation.

I love the fact that my girls have several friends who are a different color skin than them and that they are appalled by the fact that anyone could view their sweet friends with hostility or superiority based on their skin color. “It’s just wrong,” my four-year old says.

What can you do, friend? Who can you reach out to in your sphere of influence and stand poised with a humble, listening ear, seeking to understand rather than to be understood?

Christ died to reconcile us to Himself and to our neighbors – ALL of them.

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You Can’t Make Everyone Happy ~ You’re Not a Jar of Nutella

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I spread the rich, chocolaty spread on our homemade toast and swirled it together with peanut butter. Today my girls were getting a special treat: Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch! You’d think that I had promised them a trip to the moon with their exclamations of utter joy and happy dances, and I laughed as I placed the sandwiches in their travel containers for our trip to the park.

I love my girls more than life itself, but that doesn’t mean that I feed them Nutella every day. In fact, it is because I love them that I offer them healthier options most of the time, making treats more special for us all.

 Sorry, Folks – Not Everyone is Going to Like You!

Sometimes I think that we as American Christians want to be like a jar of Nutella to others. We want to be sweet, smooth, and instantly loved by all, but not necessarily nourishing, challenging, or life-giving. We may want people to do a perpetual “happy dance” around our lives without considering the truth that Jesus did not die simply to make us sweet, fun, always-likable people.

Jesus didn’t promise us a “most popular award” when we chose to follow Him. Instead He said, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22). Jesus gives us the reason for this unpopularity that may come our way in John 15:18-20 : “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.“

This doesn’t mean we are supposed to go around being obnoxious and making people hate us. Quite the contrary. The apostle Paul said, “Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). This means that we go above and beyond to relate to others not simply that we may be liked or accepted by them, but so that we do not become a stumbling block for others coming to know Christ.

Salt and Light, Not Necessarily Nutella 🙂

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Christ’s promise that we will “be hated by all” verifies that Christ divides. In fact, His life was the biggest stumbling block to His very own people and community. When you choose to follow Christ and live by the truth of His Word, there will be people who don’t like it and may not be your friend because of it, regardless of what you try to do to reach out to them or show them love.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s not your job to get people to like you. It’s your job to follow Christ, to love Him even above your own reputation, and to love others in a sincere and even self-sacrificing way.

Following Christ means you can’t just go with the status quo and accept every perspective or worldview out there.

Following Christ will cost you something. It may cost you everything. This is proven by the early church, most of whom gave up their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

As Christians, we are called to be salt and light. Not a jar of Nutella. While Nutella is sweet and tasty, let’s not kid ourselves – it’s not necessary for life and definitely isn’t at the bottom of the food pyramid 🙂

Salt, on the other hand, seasons and preserves, brings out the best flavors, and also stings when it is placed in an open wound before it brings healing.

Light warms, causes growth, produces energy and life. However, it also exposes the dust on my mantle and the deeds that are done in darkness.

If you are living a normal Christian life, you’ll do all these things – season, preserve, and cause growth and life to spring up as well as sting and expose when it’s necessary.

No, you’re not going to make everyone happy – you’re not a jar of Nutella. But you can be something much greater…a salty, light-bearing lover of Christ. While one may bring the temporary satisfaction of people’s praises and acceptance, the other will bring eternal blessings and fulfillment.

 

 

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10 Simple Ways to Grow in Humility

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If we are born anything, it’s not humble. We cry for attention and recognition from day one and – let’s be honest – it only gets worse as we get older.

By the time we can utter one word, it is usually “No!” or “Mine,” placing our pride front and center for all to see.

What I’m trying to say is, pride is a human condition and it is not conquerable without Christ’s death and resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in broken, humbled hearts.

Humility is Essential to the Christian Life

Humility is essential to the Christian life because without it, Scripture tells us that we can not know God or seek God at all. In fact, James tells us that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

I don’t know about you, but being resisted by God is not my idea of a happy life.

How can we grow in humility? As I contemplated this for my own life, I did what any good Mom does – I made a list.

This is a simple list, just to get us started on an intentional journey into humility. Let’s commit to the journey because it’s only when we actively pursue humility and resist pride that we will grow in this virtue.

10 Simple Ways to Grow in Humility – Starting Today:

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1. Admit that you are prideful. I am. You are. It is the sin that caused Lucifer to fall from Heaven and it is the foundation for every sin we ever commit. If we can’t admit that we are, by nature, prideful people, we will surely become slaves to pride itself.

2. Forgive someone you’ve held a grudge against without reservation, caveats, or stipulations. Unforgiveness is a form of pride that says “I trust myself as the judge of this person instead of trusting in Christ to be the perfect judge.” Entrust that person to Christ and let yourself out of the prison of bitterness that has held you through captive through offense.

3. Pray and seek Christ’s help and grace at the beginning of each day. Prayerlessness is a strong form of pride. When we don’t pray, we are essentially saying, “I’ve got this. I can handle life on my own without God.” When we start our day with prayer, we acknowledge our weakness, our capacity to sin if left to ourselves, and we invite God’s Spirit to empower us to make godly choices.

4. Ask God for His clear will and direction before making a decision. How often do we crash at a blinding speed through life only to look back at the train wreck we have left in our wake? Pausing in prayer as we decide how to make best use of our time honors Him and leads us on a straight path.

5. Regularly confess your sins to God and to another trustworthy friend. Pride often holds us back from admitting to God or others what we know is true – we have sin in our hearts. Scripture says “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

6. When talking to another person, focus on listening and asking questions rather than talking about yourself. As we learn to “be quick to listen and slow to speak,” we will grow in the virtue of humility.

7. Serve yourself last at meal time. Intentionally putting others before ourselves deals a strong blow to self-centeredness.

8. Write a note of encouragement to someone in your line of work who you may ordinarily view as “the competition.” When we actively choose to lift and empower others we take our eyes off of ourselves and trust God to exalt us in due time.

9. Give your spouse and/or children preference on how you spend your free time with them.

10. Do the job or task no one else wants to do. Jesus did this when he washed his disciples feet and calls us to do the same for others.

This is just a list of 10 things to get us started. I’d love to hear from you – what are some things you would add to this list? How can we spur one another on to grow in humility – starting today?

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