Christians in Action in New Mexico

Smoke from a fire rises in the distance miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Friday, July 1, 2011.

Photo Barb Harwood

One of the thoughtless comments I try to call people on when they say it is, "The Church isn't doing anything." I like to ask people how they know, out of all the churches in this world, that none of those churches are "doing anything." You would have to go into each and every church and get to know each and every person to find out how they are serving. Many people in the congregation may not be involved with a program inside their church. But as Christians, they may serve in other organizations like the Red Cross or Salvation Army. Many are hospice volunteers, care for aging parents or a disabled relative, or visit the incarcerated. Many are at-home moms who have chosen to home-school their children. Every parent raising a child in the Christian faith is "doing something;" in fact, I believe the Biblical training up of our children is our first call when it comes to serving God.

So to help counter this negative attitude toward The Church that I believe comes from a pride of feeling superior to The Church, I will occasionally highlight some of the things Christians and "The Church" are doing in the world. Will it ever be enough? Of course there's always more to be done, and more people are always welcome to become involved. But consider for a moment: If all the Christians across the globe stopped their outreach and ministries, who would fill the void?

Maybe the people who are constantly harping that "The Church isn't doing anything" could find something to do and do it, and stop worrying about what everybody else is, or isn't, doing.

Read here how The Church is helping the firefighters and evacuees of communities affected by the fires in New Mexico:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=35710

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

Where Do We Come From?

A few months ago, a close relative asked the question, "Where do we come from?" When I answered that we come from God, this person seemed dubious. Yet this person has attended church most of their life.

Since the question was posed, I've been in prayer and God's Word to formulate an answer. And one of the things God revealed to me is that people often think they have to make the big questions of life difficult. It's like, since the question of where we come from is so huge, it must require a complicated and unclear answer.

But you know, faith is about putting our adult selves off to the side and getting back to childlikeness. Faith is very simple, really, even when it comes to some of the big questions. And if people claim to be church-goers, the church is the body of Christ. So if we’re a part of the body of Christ, then the Bible is our authority, written by men who were inspired by a Holy God. It is God’s Words that are in the Bible. The men who wrote the words down were the transcribers of what God wanted written down.

So coming full circle, if we're church-goers, then we are to have faith (which the Bible explains as being like that of a child. See Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17) and we are to go to God's Word, the Bible, for answers. Amazing how many people go to church year after year and never once think to ask God their questions or seek His answers through the church's authoritative Word, the Bible.

So here are Bible verses that confirm God made each and every one of us, loves each and every one of us, and is with each and every one of us. I used to live in denial of this. I can’t imagine going back to living in that denial.

Here are the verses: (bold emphasis is mine)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Genesis 1:26

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27

“Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth;” Deuteronomy 4:32

“This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.” Ecclesiastes 7:29

“He who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18

“Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?” Job 31:15

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16

“…when God created the world.” Mark 13:19

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

“…God, who created all things.” Ephesians 3:9

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11

Romans 1:25, though, warns us that people “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…”

Why do we call God “the Creator” if we don’t believe He created the world we live in and the people who live in the world? The secular non-believing world has told us it’s foolishness to believe in a Creator and that “we can’t really know.” But if we claim Christ, we can know.

I claimed I couldn’t know at one time, and then Christ interrupted my life and I now know Who created me and Who I belong to: the Holy Triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I had a degree from UW-Madison, yet was an ignorant fool until Christ saved me. Now I disregard that college degree as dust in the wind. Instead, Christ is my portion and He instructs me. I have set the Lord before me and will not be shaken, come what may. Therefore, my heart is glad, even in despair, and I rejoice in the love and mercy of God, and know with complete surety that I am His and He is mine and He will never abandon me. He is with me now, at my side. This I know after a decade walk with Him. I know this will continue for however long I remain on earth, and for eternity in heaven (these last words include the words of Psalm 16:5-10. It is very comforting.)

God wants all to:

“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22

Yet,

“God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” Psalm 53:2

And,

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8

That faith is in God through Jesus Christ, who sends his Holy Spirit to counsel us into all truth (John 16:13). If the Bible doesn’t make sense, or you have trouble believing in the verses above, ask God in prayer and you will receive understanding: But only if you are ready to seek and understand through a true faith in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit follows. The consequence of belief in Jesus is that the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us permanently for the purpose of leading us into God's Truth and revealing His Word to us. Until we are ready to humbly and with contrition seek God through Jesus Christ, and seek Him in prayer and in His Word, we will remain in worldly blindness and self-pride.

“Where did we come from?” I count it all joy that God provides the answer through His own Words in Scripture.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16

Full Disclosure

My husband recently looked at a car being sold by a man in a near-by city. When we came to test-drive the car, the man started pointing out the dents and dings on the car, saying, “I’m giving full disclosure.”

Those words have since been playing over in my mind, because as I look at how God has grown me the most in the last year or so, it’s been in the area of “full disclosure.” When I’ve finally been submissive enough to tell God what he already knows, and let God know that I’m fully aware of it too and am ready to deal with it, it’s been such a relief. And it always seems as though my faith and servant life picks up after such honesty. It’s like God is waiting to take us to the next level, but he’s waiting for us to get to the place where we’re ready for the next level.

Harboring sin or rebellion will always stop us on the tracks. God will love us and continue to work on us while we’re stuck on those tracks, but if we’re harboring something that simply cannot be brought into His plan for our future, we’re not going to get where God wants us to. He needs our “full disclosure.”

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” 1 John 1:5-10

Samaritan's Purse - Joplin Missouri - Tornado Relief

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14-17

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation..." Isaiah 52:7

"Meanwhile, in the War in Afghanistan...." by Bing West

I’ve been catching up reading some back issues of the The Wall Street Journal, and came across the article, “Meanwhile, in the War in Afghanistan…” by Bing West. Straightforward and dispassionately written, this essay takes a look at the “grunts” of the Third Platoon of Kilo Company, Fifth Marine Regiment.

From the article:

“Back in the U.S., the news was dominated by events in Libya, the start of March Madness in college basketball and the latest court appearance of Lindsay Lohan. The fighting season in Afghanistan had begun, too, but in the U.S., the decade-old war is now largely ignored.”

“'That’s a different world,'” replied Capt. Johnson, who is on his third combat tour. 'In the States, a bad day for a guy on his way to the office is a flat tire. A bad day out here is a double amputee. The public pays attention to Charlie Sheen. No one’s heard of Sgt. Abate.'”

The article goes on to explain how, after a patrol hit a minefield in late October, Sgt. Abate “had left his safe position and run to apply tourniquets and carry out the screaming, grievously wounded men. He was killed in action five weeks later, but only the platoon remembers his name.”

And for all those who think that the end of collective bargaining is the end of the world, West points out that these men “have volunteered to serve, and most of them will leave the military after four years, with no pension or benefits. They endure the mud, heat, stench, blood, fatigue and terror of lost limbs and lost lives.”

Yet,

“The grunts chose their profession,” West writes, “and they draw satisfaction from their Spartan existence. Almost every member of the Third Platoon said he wanted to be right where he was, living in a cave on the most dangerous battlefield in Afghanistan.”

Folks, this is integrity. And although it’s obvious that, to these men, recognition back home would be nice, it doesn’t determine their actions and it certainly isn’t what motivates them.

Today, as we read the latest headlines and find ourselves enamored with the divorce of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, maybe it’s time we exit the internet and write a letter of thanks to a soldier, say a prayer for their safety and pay more attention in general to what really matters in life, and less to what never mattered to begin with.

Please take time to read the entire article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576232542899743046.html

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

God and Lawn Care

If you are a natural gardener, you will love this humorous conversation between God and St. Francis. If you despise lawn maintenance and see it as drudgery, perhaps this will convince you to maintain your green space God's way. If you are the person bagging your grass in the Spring and Summer and your leaves in the fall, maybe the following conversation will give you a new appreciation for grass clippings and autumn leaves. Either way, the following is a fun read while we wait ever so patiently for the temperatures outside to rise above 50.

http://www.dunwoodygardenclub.com/God_Lawns.html

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations,..." Psalm 3:19

What is Biblical Testimony?

This past September I was asked by a youth pastor to give my testimony to about 40 high school students. I had never given my testimony in front of a large public group before, but I’d heard many testimonies, most of them rather dramatic. I was conflicted about how much to share with the youth, fearing too much information might glorify my past alcohol use or cause the youth to conclude one of two things: “See, she drank and turned out okay,” or “So I have to hit an alcoholic bottom in order to really feel the need for Christ?”

There had been previous “hitting bottom” testimonies in youth group, and I was concerned that these testimonies might imply that a “true” testimony is one that involves past criminal, drug, alcohol or sexual activity. So when it came time to share, I gave the Reader’s Digest version, leaving out my past alcohol use altogether and only talking about my secular humanist upbringing and how my independent self-reliance was a stumbling block to God.

Needless to say, the testimony was terrible. My son, who was in the audience, said I sounded extremely nervous, which I was, and that he couldn’t really hear me (which, in hindsight, is probably a good thing!)

As I look back on the experience, which soured me on testimonies in general, I am positive that I was not led by the Holy Spirit that night and that it was me deciding what to say and why. The more I tried to choreograph my testimony, the more it backfired.

God has used this experience to show me where strong pockets of pride exist and that I’m still way too self-conscious (another form of pride). And after all these months, He finally brought closure to the whole debacle in the form of another man’s testimony given at the recent Good News Jail and Prison Ministry Banquet. There, Rick Sweenie, a former inmate who has been involved in the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry for 35 years and is now a regional director, taught me what true testimony is when he said, “I’m not going to stand here and tell you how bad I was. I’m going to tell you how good God is.”

As I’ve read my Bible in the days since the prison banquet, God has shown me how Mr. Sweenie’s words are Biblical. In Matthew 9:35-36 especially, we learn that Jesus spoke out of compassion for the lost. Jesus’ focus was on the needs of his listeners. His heart broke for them. He wasn’t trying to wow them with an amazing testimony. He was trying to point them to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God where they could find healing. What point is testimony if it doesn’t do the same?

The risk of testimony is that we get too specific with our personal experience and lose people. The listener may not be able to relate, thinking they are either not as bad as us, dismissing their need for God, or are much worse and conclude God cannot redeem them. But when most of what we share is focused on the answer, regardless of the sins committed, that’s where the harvest is. The facts of broken lives are many and varied, but the answer for all of it is God through Jesus Christ.

I know now where I went wrong in my testimony. It was in thinking of it as mine and not God’s.

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:35-36