The Advent of the Light

I read Luke 1 this morning, and I was so moved. Reading as Elizabeth prophesied, then Mary, then Zechariah--all of them focused on the coming of the ONE. Their world was dark, too. I'm sure it seemed so hopeless, living under Roman occupation with extreme poverty and little freedom. Not too much has changed. Of course, I sense that though the Church in America is wealthy and free materially, we are not so spiritually.

We are bankrupt of love. We look out for our own welfare not concerned for the welfare of others (I am NOT even talking about the government--I am talking about the CHURCH). We have forgotten HIM and what HE came to do and what he entrusted US to do. Instead, we heap yokes of burden on others--piles of rules and regulations that can't possibly be kept. We expect people to PROVE their devotion to God by how much they DO. We are slaves to a law that we've been freed from--and it is all of our own choosing.

We boycott bars, people, movies, corporations, and we fail to see that we are arrogant and full of our own glory. We esteem ourselves as "not having done this or that" and "avoiding the appearance of evil"--whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. We have missed it. We are in darkness (of our own choosing).

Zechariah, John's father, prophesied this:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us--to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to ENABLE US TO SERVE HIM WITHOUT FEAR in his holiness and righteousness before him all our days...because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to SHINE on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Luke 1: 68-75, 78-79)

This is our message--a message of hope to a people living in darkness. But how can we communicate it if we too are living in darkness? Step into the light, the freedom, and embrace the Rising Sun so that you may be able to embrace others with His light and life.

A Lesson in Redemption

I have been hearing the Father in the neatest ways this past week. I wanted to share a beautiful little lesson I learned this week in a time of discipline with Maryn.

We are employing some new-to-us tactics in our discipline. One of them is getting creative and helping the kids have consequences that are memorable but that also allow them free will--they can make a choice and experience the consequences, positive or negative. (All this and more can be found in Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk)

(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com--where I purchased the book)

Well, helping Maryn manage her freedom has been very interesting. And hard. And crazy, at times. This week, we had a teachable moment in cleaning up after ourselves. I asked the kids to put their stuff (toys, shoes, pillows, blankies, all belongings) away. Nothing happened. Surprise. (Catch the sarcasm.)

The next time, I followed Danny Silk's lead, and I told them they could either pick up their stuff, or I would put their stuff in a trash bag to give to other kids. Both Sam and Maryn did not believe me, and they didn't pick up their toys. They made a choice not to. So, I grabbed a trash bag, and picked everything up. Then, in my mercy and grace (trying to mimic the Father, here!), I gave them another opportunity. I called them upstairs. I showed them all their stuff in the bag (this is new for them, so I am cutting them some slack), and then explained that they could save their stuff. I dumped it all on the floor of their room.

I said, "You get one more chance. I am going to set the timer for 15 minutes. You can either pick up your stuff and put it away nicely, or I am going to pick it all back up and give it to other kids. Anything that is left on the floor when the timer goes off will go into the trash bag. Sam, you pick up your stuff, and Maryn, you pick up yours."

I set the timer, and I walked away. Samuel got it. He cleaned up his stuff very quickly and was finished in no time. I went up there, checked it out. He was off the hook. Maryn, however, was playing. She had not a care in the world. Sigh.

Sam explained it to her, "Maryn, you better clean up your stuff, or Mom is gonna throw it in the trash!"

I pleaded with her to make the right choice. I explained how it hurt my heart. She had left her blankies on the floor, and I BEGGED HER to pick them up. She just looked at me and said in her sing-song voice, "I don't want to." Maryn's blankies are so important to her. She's had them since she was a baby, and she chews on them. Disgusting, I know. I knew how devastated she would be when she realized they were gone. At that moment, the Lord gave me understanding into His heart,

"This is how desperately I want my children to choose Me over their selfish pleasures. I plead, I beg, I offer multiple chances. I don't force their wills. It hurts my heart when they don't choose Me, but I must let them make their choice. They must choose to love Me, or it isn't love."

I, then, went downstairs to check the timer. It began to beep, and my heart sank--like the Titanic in quicksand. I went back upstairs with the trashbag and began picking up all her stuff. I explained once again what I was doing. She really didn't seem to mind too much, but I was smarter than that. I knew it would sink in at bedtime when she wanted blankie the most.

The Lord spoke again to my heart, "She was willing to sacrifice her most important possession in order to do what she wanted to do. How often my children do the same!"

I went downstairs and cried a little. My heart was broken for my little girl and her poor choice. This is new for me. Normally, I just get mad because the kids won't obey me. This time, I was grieved for her. I knew she didn't realize the gravity of her choice. I began immediately trying to think of a way to redeem it.

The Spirit said, "This is how I feel. This is why I MUST redeem you. I can't leave this undone. I will go at all lengths to restore you to me in our relationship."

I knew at that moment that I had to show the Father's heart and redeem blankie.

Bedtime that night was rough. She cried and cried. I held her, snuggled with her, sang to her, and she finally calmed. The next morning, after she'd been up for an hour or so, she began to wail (yes, "wail" is the proper term for our Maryn) for blankie. I really sensed the Lord wanted me to just spend some time comforting her and being with her in her loss. So, I did. I stroked her hair and told her stories about when she was born and how we wrapped her up in blankie. She listened quietly minus the wailing. As I sat with her, I once again sensed I was acting out His heart for us--He is with us even when we have wasted what was most precious. He is forever present with us in our dark places.

I began to pray, "Father, what would you have me do to show her your redemption? How can I redeem blankie for her?"

The word "books" came to mind instantly. I began scanning through my mental list of titles that I owned. Obviously, there were some books I couldn't part with, but I knew whatever book I chose to part with would have to be important to me. I went downstairs and scanned the bookshelves, and then I saw it. The Magic Christmas, a Sweet Valley Twins book that I read a dozen times in the 5th or 6th grade with my best friend, Abigail. This book was very important to me. It's one of those things I've hung onto from my friendship with Abby, and though I gave away all of my other Sweet Valley books, I always kept this one for sentimental reasons. (Forgive me, Abby!)

I knew I had to do it. Whatever I gave up had to be worth something to me. So, I took Maryn, Sam, and the book into the kitchen where the trashbag full of her stuff was. I explained how important the book was to me. I explained how I was going to exchange the book for Maryn's blankies. I was going to sacrifice my book so that Maryn could have her blankies. She was thrilled. I'm not so sure she got it.

But Sam did.

"Lord, this is a lesson for Sam?" I wondered.

Later that afternoon, Sam and I were reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (yes, we're STILL reading...his attention span is short!). We reached the chapter where Aslan exchanges his life for Edmund's. Sam and I had a long talk about Maryn's blankies, Aslan and Edmund, and finally, Jesus and us. It was so beautiful. It was an answer to prayer as well; I have been praying for these teachable moments for Samuel and asking for him to have lots of spiritual questions.

Though it was hard, I am pleased with how the discipline worked out. Justice and mercy both played a part. Maryn does believe Mommy now. Samuel came to a greater understanding of God's desire to know him. I became more like Jesus. I'm so thankful that our good, kind Papa redeemed this situation for all of us.

A Witness

The Father is stirring in His children. He's moving us to the next level. He is doing a healing work in us and moving us out to share that healing work with a hurting world. He's called (and is calling) us to be His witnesses in the earth. Our local body here has been teaching on this subject for a few weeks now, and in my spirit, I sense that Jesus "is on the move" (only Lewis nerds will get that reference).

As a follower of Jesus for most of my young life, I have given witness of Him more than once. Sadly, many of those moments of witness were reduced to a formula, a prayer, and a rote confession. I see those I shared it with, and sadly, no evidence of fruit remains. Why is this?

In the Christianity I've grown up in, I've seen the Body separate themselves from their culture in such a way that when they try to encounter it with the Good News, they fail miserably. I feel we've become arrogant. We've really believed we're better than the rest of the world because we have been redeemed (thereby missing the fact that we were redeemed because we NEEDED to be). We rush out our door condemning people for their sins, organizing rallies against them for their sin and never holding out the Word of Life.

Somethin' has gotta give.

Being Jesus to people means denying ourselves. It means becoming like people "to win some". We can't reach people when we elevate ourselves above them. We've got to embrace our culture--not wage a war against it. I'm NOT saying that we need to embrace the sins of our culture. Culture is " the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another" (dictionary.com). Some of these ways obviously involve sin, but if it means that you decide to live on the street with homeless people to reach homeless people (like Mike Yankoski), then by all means, embrace that part of our culture.

For far too long, the church has viewed themselves as the "city on a hill" that is cloistered and secluded on a hill--not the city on a hill THAT CAN'T BE HIDDEN. We have to stop hiding and setting ourselves apart unto ourselves. We are to be set apart unto God, living FOR Him--being His hands and feet IN THE WORLD.

Being a witness means being a martyr. It's actually the same word in the Greek. Now, I know you're thinking, "A martyr? Really?" Well, the chances of you being a martyr for Jesus in America is not too realistic at present, but how about being a metaphorical martyr? How about DYING TO YOURSELF? How about forsaking your lifestyle, your money, your traditions in order to reach those who live on the fringe? The untouchables of our society are desperate for LIFE. And instead of preaching condemnation, how about we preach eternal life? How about preaching grace? Love? Hope? Most people in this country have had more than enough of condemnation. Most of them know about hell. Let's stop selling tickets out of hell and start holding out the Word of LIFE.

I do believe in hell. I do believe in sin. I believe salvation from sin is through faith in Christ alone. I just don't think the way we've beat people over the head with it has been effective. I think we must LOVE them and SEE them as our Father does. Jesus' attitude towards the downtrodden was much different than it was to the self-righteous. He wasn't preaching hellfire and brimstone to the weak and weary, it was to those who thought they didn't need Him. They were comfortable with their rules and false trust in their own morality to save them.

America doesn't need more morality without Jesus. It needs Jesus first. The Body needs to take Jesus to people--not rules, not denomination, not disputable doctrines--Jesus, the Risen Lamb of God, slain for them. They really need to see His love. Most people do not equate Christianity with love these days. If that is the case, then we have missed it ourselves. I'm not talking tolerance--I'm talking LOVE. You can stand against evil without standing against people. We've got to love people, baggage and all. Let Jesus change them. Begin with Jesus, and trust Him to do a work in them.

Somethin's gotta give, people.

It's us. We've got to give up our agendas, our prejudices, our spirits of offense, our distaste with the unlovely, our pride in our religion, our very way of life. I'm amazed that Jesus laid aside His glory to come walk among us, the Word made flesh. He became like us to win us. We've got to do the same.

What's that going to look like for you?