Are you under grace or the law?

I couldn't attend a church that was showing Beth Moore simulcast because of other comments I had, so I spent the $20 and watched it on my through the digital pass later. Beth had spoken about on my favorite topics and one that has been speaking loudly in my life lately. Where do you live under grace or under the law? I would like to say that I live under grace, but I don't always. One of the things Beth did was give a 13 question quiz to see where you are living. They are statements and you answer true or false. Here goes.

1.) I tend to assume that the hardest option is probably the godliest. In other words, the obedient way is probably the harder of 2 ways.

2.) I rarely ask for forgiveness only once for any significant transgression even if I am truly repented the first time. (Including gossip/sharp words t someone/any demonstration of pride, etc.)

3.) I tend not to feel back in God's "good graces" right away after repentance.

4.) I catch myself wanting to pay penance after feeling like I've really messed up. (Penance defined here as "acts done to make u for sin.")

5.) I think God loves me, but in spite of me and not because of I'm lovable.

6.) Truth be told Jesus' parable about the workers who get paid equal wages regardless of how long or short a time they worked seems a bit disconceting.

7.) I deal with a fair amount of anxiety in my spiritual life.

8.) I struggle with considerable self-condemnation.

9.) I find it easier to tell others how much God loves them than I believe it for myself.

10.) I feel I must always bear up (continue to befriend) with the people who have wronged me over and over.

11.) I tend to feel guilty about some of the good things in my life.

12.) I know God loves me, but I think I often disappoint Him.

13.) Romans 14:17 says "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." However you would not know that from being around me.

Those that you answered true are the areas where you are under the law. I'll be honest I had a few trues when I took, and I still do now, however I'm working at changing my mindset in those areas. Finding things in the new testament that state that I'm under grace concerning those areas.

a little can still make a mess

So I'm going to step up from the norm, no verse today. I'm going to share about something I learned at the women's retreat I attended a couple of weeks ago. I was on the team that ran it, I had led to sessions. I had looked at the sessions before it started to pick which ones I wanted to do. When it came time to do the last session, I already knew what was going to happen. We were given a small cup of chocolate syrup, we were told to pour it into our palm. Now some people took the cup and poured all of it and covered their hand with it. I poured a very small amount on my hand in a small little puddle. I tried to be very neat with this. However, I had to sit there and hold my hand in a fashion that would keep the syrup from running all over, soon my little chocolate mess wasn't so little. It hard started to spread. It was also tempting to play with it a little, by moving my hand around and watching it slowly run from one side to the other. If you haven't guessed the syrup was suppose represent sin. The picture I got, wasn't about how much I need grace, and forgiveness, it was how Christians seem to deal with sin after they have been saved. I'm going to control how much "sin" I pour into my hand. It still makes a mess. I'm only going to do this little thing, but after I've got it on my hand, I'm going to play around with it and make the mess a little bigger. I'm also going to hold it in my hand and try and not let anyone see it, but I know it's still there. I'm going to see it for what it is, and try and scrape some it back in the cup, but I still have some left on my hand. As Christian, we need to stop messing with sin, even if we think we can control it. We can't. God is still going to have to clean up the mess. Sitting there with this small puddle of syrup in my hand brought up some of those sins that I carefully poured in my hand, and tried to make only a small puddle with. I have also scraped that small amount of chocolate off my hand, but there's still some left. I am done with that sin, but I haven't really washed my hands since. So what do I do with this picture? Do I continue on?  My hand has been dirty for a few years now. No, in that moment, before I got up and had my hand cleaned off of the real syrup, I addressed it. I was full of guilt and shame in that moment, unaware that I had this small mess in my hands all the time, but once I dealt with, once I got my hands clean, the guilt and shame went away. Maybe now, you need to go and get the chocolate syrup, and put just a small amount in your hand, so those "small" sins you "controlled" and "played" with get cleaned.

You want to what?!? With how much ?1?

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. John 6:7-11 (NIV)

So is the cup half full or half empty? Honestly which is it? That blessing God just gave you, is it enough or could you use just a little more? Do you have enough to go around again? This story has 3 different perspective in it. Let's take a look at Philip's first. Philip's thoughts on feeding the 5 thousand was not happening. Feeding these many people just isn't a possibility. He might have even thought why bother trying. He is very realistic here, a half year's wage wouldn't even buy everyone a bite. This task is just too big. Have you ever had Philip's outlook? I do. Every time I sit down to write on Esther, I think about all the work it will take and all the skill I lack. I think about how much I struggle with words and how worn out I feel after just writting 2 paragraphs. But then again Philip and I aren't focusing on the right thing, and what makes it worse for Philip is that Jesus is standing right there in front of him. So am I off the hook? I mean Philip can see and touch Jesus, he's even watched him do miracles. I've never physically seen Jesus, I can't be all that wrong cause I can't keep my focus on Him right? Um, not so much. I know how the story ends, Philip didn't at the time.

Now for Andrew's perspective. Well, we got some, but how far will it go? Andrew even points out that what they have is small. How will it be enough? Ever have a small amount and wonder if it will be enough? I've had a small amount of gas in my car and not much money and pay day was a long way off. However, I would still load my car up with kids who needed rides home after Wednesday night church. It didn't matter where in the valley they lived. I took them home. It didn't matter that it took 45 minutes to drive to work. I still did it and hoped that gas would hold out until pay day which was light years away. Andrew is quite aware that gas light should come on any second. Andrew is well aware, what they have and who they have to feed, don't add up very well. No equal sign in this equation. It needs a greater sign and it goes to the number of people and not the stuff to eat.

Now Jesus had the right perspective. He had the people sit down, not looking at the number of people. He took the bread and fish, not caring about the amount. He gave thanks and feed the 5 thousand. He was grateful for what there was and it was enough. It seemed that when I carted children around the city of Phoenix, I had enough gas. I could drive hundreds of miles and the gas gauge needle wouldn't move. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but you get the picture. Give rides and the gas would last longer. Doesn't make sense, but with God it doesn't have to. Before I sit down to write, I thank God for using me, and the words just come. It isn't a struggle. I'm not worn out when I'm done. It isn't a battle. Be thankful makes things go further or so it seems.

Next time you get a task that is unpleasant and seems impossible, who are going to be Philip, Andrew or Jesus? Jesus was successful, He solved the problem. He handled it; they even had leftovers. God is the business of taking equations that shouldn't work, and making the work with some leftover too.

Enemies and Promises.

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. (NIV)


If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.
The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! (NLT)


Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (NKJV)

Deuteronomy 28:1,7

I love the verses that have promises in them. I love that ever though this in the Old Testament, I can take these promises for myself. This talk about obeying God and his commands, following the laws of Moses, but do we have to follow the laws of Moses? As New Testament Christians, not exactly. Jesus came to set us free from the law, but he did tell us that we have 2 commands we need to follow: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37,39). If you are doing these 2 things and obeying God, the promise in verse 7 is yours. I recently got a side-by-side Bible and it has been exciting to be in the word because I can see the small differences. Verse 7 is a great example of this. NIV says will grant, NKJV says will cause, but NLT says will conquer. However great these words are my favorite word is right before will. This si the one doing the action, which makes the word even better. Do you see it? It's Lord. The Lord will conquer. Not me, mainly because I'm not good enough to do the conquering. Personally though when someone like the Lord is on my side, I don't need to be good enough. He does a better job when I don't meddle, so I'll leave the conquering of my enemies to Him. I really love the end of this verse too. They will flee in seven ways. God is good. Even though verse 7 is great and exciting, lets not forget verse 1, and that we must do our part first, we must obey. 

Let's make some plans

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

Oh, how love to make plans. We really need them set and figured out. Most of us need the details hammered out before we'll even breath. Having a plan is great, but James says here that we don't even know what will happen tomorrow. How true this is. Do we make plans at all then? We shouldn't sit around and make no plans at all. Where is the middle the ground?

First off, I don't think there is anything wrong with making plans. God doesn't want sitting around inactive doing nothing. When making plans we need to keep two things in mind. First seek God's will. Do the things in your plans align with the things God wants for your life? Second don't put all your hope in your plans. Don't make your plans, your new "god."

Just make sure your plans have these two things. James and I have plans to stay married to each other the rest of our lives and have children. These aren't bad plans. There's plenty of proof in the bible that God wants us to stay married and have children. We are also aware that there are things we can't control, and God calls one of us home before the other, we are both willing to follow God's will. I'll even admit in the beginning, I won't be thrilled. I'll need to deal with it, but I will eventually move on with God's will for my life. We've talked about the children thing. We'll try having children ourselves, but if that doesn't work out, we willing to adopt. We plan on seeking God's will through out the whole the process.

There are other areas where it might not say anything in the bible about the plans we want to make. Things like where to live, and what job to do. I feel though that if you are working at your relationship, He will help you figure these things out. Door will open and close. You can also ask Him to help figure what his plans are. I asked God, that if he cared about where we lived, that we need a nice big neon sign. As we made calls, and appointments to see different houses, I watched for signs. We only had one person who set an appointment with actually meet, most people didn't even return our call. I took this as a neon sign. As next school year approaches, I've begged and pleaded with God to let me go back downstairs and be with the little ones, but I also feel a burden on my heart to stay where I am, so what do I? I seek God, and advice from friends. I listen to what if feel is my God showing his will to me. 

Plan making becomes a problem when we put all our eggs in one basket or when we ignore the fact that the door is shut and clearly locked, and we start searching frantically almost to our own ruin. The making of plans and not checking with God, assuming we know what is best for us. These are all times when plan making is a problem.

Remember we are just a mist and we only have tomorrow because God has willed it. It's ok to make plans, just don't write them in ink, don't be upset when God changes, don't build everything on them, and check with God as you make.