When I Want Change NOW

Have you ever noticed that having a lot of something--time, money, energy--gives you a sense of control and lack of concern? At least it would appear that way. Multi-millionaires don't make a fuss when they purchase tickets, a meal (or five or ten) at a 4-star restaurant, or pay the door man. For some of us, it costs something. Everything we buy means something we don't. The object is the same, but because of limitations, we value it differently.

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God is God--not a man--but have you ever thought about how much time means to Him?  The eternal, uncreated, self-sustaining God rules from eternity past to eternity future. He created time. For Him, it is not limited. He is not hurried. There is no deadline, due date or expiration. That means my crisis is not a crisis. He was there yesterday. He is in tomorrow. The future is the past.

When He wants to move nations and create leaders. He does. When He chooses to use a man, or change a man, He moves heaven and earth to accomplish His purpose.

Sometimes I get discouraged that life isn't happening according to my plan or I'm not changing as quickly as I'd like or in the areas where I struggle. That's when I'm reminded of the great men of the Bible--flawed, failing men--and God's patient, good use of trials and difficult circumstances. Pick one --Abraham, Joseph, David, Jeremiah, Paul. Pick any one of these men and plot his life. God patiently worked people and circumstances to change them and bring them to a place of giftedness and dependence. Getting to the "other side" was not the goal, change was. God used time as an instrument, a tool, a mechanism, to accomplish His good purpose and use each one for His glory.

The take away for me this morning? Stop. Slow down. Look up. Let go. Time is not the enemy--is never the enemy--but hanging on too tightly is.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.

For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord!
How long?
And have compassion on Your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90 NKJV)

Filth Factor

Have you ever considered skin--that outer layer of ours--as a reminder of forgiveness?

We live on a farm--with dirt, germs, yuck. There is clean dirt--grass, dead leaves, and soil that get under your nails and stick. There's dirty dirt--compost, manure, small animal droppings that create clinging aromas. And then there's decay--rotting grain, maggot-infested or decomposing flesh. that ascend one's sinuses and work their way into memory. I won't say more.

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Those are the outer pollutants--then there's you-yuck: sweat, emptying pores, and other indiscriminate stinky things we don't talk about.

It happens. So, as soon as possible--especially before joining the company of others--we find a shower, a bath, or some method of removing it.

And that's when I'm particularly thankful that God made skin washable. Do you, like me, marvel in the wonder of disappearing stink? Filth floating down the drain? And fresh-smelling,clean-feeling, wonderful, amazing epidermis? No matter how gross, how overwhelming, how enduring the chore, the stink goes away in a relatively short time.

That's when I was reminded of my sin and shame. It might be brush-it-off, stay-with-you or infused in your memory sin and guilt, but God--through the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ--removes it. He cleanses us. From all of it. All. He refreshes and renews us, gives us the aroma of Christ, sends us back out amidst dust-filled streets and dung-covered walkways and draws us back to wash our feet again and again and again.

Have you showered lately? Or is it time to spend some time being washed with the Word and cleansed by the work of the Holy Spirit? What's your yuck factor? Come to Jesus today. Now. He's all we need.

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.


If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:5-10

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Seasoned with Grace

Submission is a four-letter word. Some would say it's because of our culture, or post-modern era. Some would say it's because we live in America, land of the free, home of the brave. I am convinced it's because of my sinful heart that wants my way--the only way--all the time. But submitting to authority, to one's husband, or another person is not a negative.

To submit to someone else is to give a gift of grace. When my husband makes the wrong choice at the grocery store and brings home dried beans instead of canned, I can rail on him, go back to the store, or give him grace and get to work plumping those babies. When I work on a committee for the church Thanksgiving dinner and there's a decision to be made I can do it my way or ask the person in charge--and give her grace.

There are two choices in dealing with people: their way or mine. To submit to others out of reverence for Christ is to consider them better than, ahead of, myself--and give grace. Just do it. Unless it's terribly wrong, don't question it, give suggestions, or buck the system. Just do it: lovingly, patiently, gently, kindly, prayerfully fighting your inside voice that rants about how your way is better.

To do things lovingly is to do them God's way. And God's way is often difficult. It means giving up my identity (gasp!) because I am in Christ. It means seeing things from a different angle. It means not being the center of my world--or anyone else's. It means becoming invisible in a way that allows Jesus to shine through the cracks, brokenness and shame of my life.

If you're ready for a heart-check, follow this link. It will take you to a list of proud and humble responses compiled by Stuart Scott. I didn't get far before it was evident that I have a LONG way to go to grow in humility and submission. May God continue to put us in situations where we can learn and practice submission--because that's what Jesus did.

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.


Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. (Phil. 2:1-16)