Thirsty for God

It had been a long day, and I was looking forward to sleep. I lay still for a while and just as I got warm and comfortable and began to feel I might drift off any moment... it hit me. 

I was thirsty.

the thirst didn't bother me until I actually recognized the thought. Then it became persistent. Annoyed, I tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but to no avail. My mouth and throat began to get dry and I knew if I fell asleep then, my sleep would be fitful at best, filled with dreams of deserts, climaxing when I finally found water, only to wake up at the crucial moment to the memory of my real-life thirst. 

Maybe this story is familiar to you. It's funny how all-consuming thirst can be. It's our bodies' way of alerting us to the fact that water is indeed necessary for life. 

My problem is, that I don't particularly like drinking water. I would much rather have coffee or tea or something that at least tastes good, but water is what my body needs, and those things I would rather fill my thirst with are often the things that will leave me the most thirsty for more. But the more I discipline myself to drink water, the more I actually begin to desire it. I get thirsty and crave water, because that is what my body is used to receiving. And the more I satisfy that craving with water, the more the water actually begins to taste good to me.

The more water I drink, the easier it is to make healthy choices about what I use to satisfy my thirst. 

Did you know that is the same way it's meant to be with God? Listen to how the Bible relates thirst to our relationship with God:

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

My soul panteth for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:1-2

"O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is" (Psalm 63:1)

"I stretch forth my hands unto Thee: my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land. Selah" (Psalm 143:6)

And Jesus Himself says:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6)

Not only is this thirst for righteousness to be filled, its life-giving flow is to abound. As Jesus told the woman at the well:

"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)

And later He proclaims in the midst of a crowd, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

We are not just containers to be filled with the fullness of God (Eph.3:19), we are to be rivers, pouring abundantly into the lives of others around us. As we satisfy our thirst for God, we will not only turn to Him more readily to satisfy our thirst, but our satisfaction will be so abundant that it will affect everyone around us. And that is what makes the world look at us and see the fullness of God. It is what brings to their hearts the question of how we can be so fulfilled while their lives feel so empty. 

The Symbolism of the Saturday Bath and the Sunday Best

When I was growing up, Saturday night was "bath night". Each of us kids would take turns getting washed and scrubbed and cleaner than seemed possible to a small child who liked mud puddles and digging in the dirt looking for bits of "archaeology".

Then we would all sit together in the living room with towels draped around our pajama-clad shoulders with wet hair squeaky clean and dripping, watching television till bedtime. --It's funny, but even now when I hear the theme song from a certain show which had a very long running on Saturday night tv, I can almost smell wet hair and cheap apple-scented shampoo.

At the time, my parents would tell us that we were getting all cleaned up for Sunday, because we should always try to look our best for God when we go to church. For this reason, we also had special clothes only for Sunday (or for very special occasions). This hearkened back to the idea of the "Sunday Best".

In the days of the pioneers, it would be very common only to have two sets of clothes: one for everyday wear and one for "best". A woman would very likely only have one nice dress which was her Sunday dress, but also her wedding dress, party dress, and often would be the dress she was buried in when she died.

The point was, church was an occasion worthy of one's "best". And if you were wearing that treasured "best" article of clothing, you sure wanted to be clean when you put it on! (Especially if you happened to be the one in charge of doing the washing each week.) --Hence the Saturday night bath tradition.

Actually, these two traditions go back much further than the pioneer days, and may quite possibly have their roots in the book of Exodus.

When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He led them to a mountain called Mt. Sinai, and had Moses give the people special instructions for when He would appear and speak publicly to Moses:

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai." (Exodus 10-11)

Did you catch that? God wanted them to wash their clothes in preparation to stand before the presence of God.  Additionally, a quick survey of the passages on worship in the tabernacle and temple will show that washing played a major part. In fact, the priests could not go into the tabernacle (and later, the temple) until they had first washed. And when the high priest put on his priestly garments, he was required first to wash. --Did you notice? Washing and special clothing had a part in God's ordained mode of worship.

Now, we no longer worship at either temple or tabernacle, but we ourselves are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and are instructed to treat our bodies as such (2 Cor. 6:16-19). And what Christ said about ritual washing of the outward brings a helpful explanation of the symbolism behind the practice, as well as some insight to what it means for us today:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." (Matthew 23:25-26)

The point is not the cleansing of the outside, but the cleansing of the inside. It is important that we prepare to meet God by getting right with Him, confessing sin and resetting our focus on Him. Without this, our worship is just like setting a clean cup with muddy water in it before a guest. God desires us to be clean on the inside when we worship Him.

Notice also the command Jesus gave the Pharisees: clean up the inside so that the outside will be clean. When we are right on the inside, our outsides should show it. That's the whole point of washing up and looking our best on Sundays --to show that we are dedicated to worshiping God with clean, holy hearts, dressed first in Christ's righteousness, but showing with our attire that He is worthy of our very best in every area of life --even down to what we wear.

So next time you wash up and don your Sunday best, remember what it represents! Getting ready for church should not be merely an external exercise, but a preparation of the whole being: spiritual, mental, and physical, to meet with the God who is worthy of our best! 

Hypocrisy vs. Humility

A lot is said about hypocrisy these days. My generation especially seems to love to point it out in others, particularly in the lives of those in authority. And I'll admit, it is true that there is hypocrisy in leaders sometimes, and that it is not right for leaders to be hypocrites. Consider, though, that authority tends to magnify whatever faults a person has, and since all of us have a sin nature, it should not surprise us or shock us out of our beliefs when a well-known authority falls into hypocrisy -or any other sin for that matter.

 We should of course pray for them, for those affected by their sin, and for our own heart attitudes. But we should always remember: hypocrisy in others does not excuse bitterness in ourselves. Both sins are equally sinful. Nor should we throw out sound Biblical doctrine simply because the one who taught us that doctrine failed to live it out. Our responsibility is to sift through any teaching we receive and see what matches Scripture, and obey it -regardless of whether anyone else does.

I was reading through Matthew 3 in my time with God earlier this month and a contrast stood out to me which I had never noticed before. The account begins with John preaching in the wilderness. His whole message centered around repentance from sin.

Enter the Pharisees.

The Pharisees went about looking very spiritual. In fact, they went out of their way to make people notice just how spiritual they were. Yet, at their hearts, they were just playing a part. Thy were hypocrites. They stretched and pushed the boundaries of God's law to suit their desires, (Matt.7:11) but were unwilling to acknowledge the heart attitude of humble obedience that was to fuel the observance of that law. It was all about them, not about God. He seems to have been merely an afterthought, if not only a means to recognition or status.

John took them to task, declaring before the whole crowd that they were hypocrites, that they had not truly repented, and were not entitled to skip the necessary step of heart repentance because of their heritage. It didn't matter if Abraham was their father: it was their faith and repentance that was required for entry into the kingdom of heaven. --How well do you think that sat with the prideful Pharisees?

Then Jesus showed up. What a contrast it was! On the one hand were the Pharisees, too "spiritual" and prideful to repent, and on the other there was Jesus, God Himself, wanting to be baptized.

John was understandably confused about Jesus' request, because, as he stated, he had need to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around! But then Jesus gave an answer that shows a heart of complete and utter humility.

Although He was the only one ever to live a human life without sin and therefore without need of repentance, He was willing to be identified with the message of repentance through baptism. He was stooping to a level of righteousness He truly did not need to fulfill so that others could see His example and be helped towards righteousness and faith.

"for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"

In that one sentence, Christ showed godly humility in all its glory.

Both Christ and the Pharisees did (or desired to do) the outward, but the Pharisees did it to appear to others to be righteous, and Christ did the outward --even when He had  no benefit of it for himself-- to fulfill or demonstrate the righteousness He already possessed for the sake of others.

Book Review: In His Steps

In October, my book club read the novel In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon. I had read it once when I was a teen, and I was surprised by just how much I had forgotten of the plot line.

This may be understandable, since the occasion of my first reading of the book was on a camping trip. It was my first time camping since almost before I could remember, and I was staying (for the first time) in my own tent. It was also November, and bitterly cold. 

Add to that the fact that the story around the campfire that night had been of the time my parents had inadvertently pitched their tent over a mousehole and felt the mice crawling under their sleeping bags all night, as well as the fact of my absolute terror of the small furry creatures, which was compounded by the further fact that several mice had boldly visited our fire while the fateful tale was told.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to sleep that night. 

A choir director had given me a copy of In His Steps one Christmas, and I had brought it with me, because, of course, a homeschooled teen never leaves home without a book. I read it in its entirety that night as a means of distraction as I waited for morning and light and the banishing of all imagined terrors of mice. I did rush through the last few chapters, however, which my surprise as I read it again years later, completely oblivious of the ending. 

And now for the actual book review: 

As a teen, I was captivated by the character of Rachel Winslow. Reading of her dedication of her voice to the Lord's service was the first time I had ever really thought about the impact one's music could have. I longed to have a voice like Rachel's that would still a rowdy mob and move their hearts so. I think at that point in my life, it was the power her voice gave her that I wanted, more than the ability to use that power for the Lord.

This time, I noticed all the characters, each having its own set of circumstances or dilemmas with which I could relate. It is interesting to me just how much more exciting this book was now, and I am certain it has to do with the fact that my relationship with God is much closer now than it was when I first read the book, which accounts for the growth in excitement over the thought of what God could do through a Christian who was fully committed to obeying Him. 

The scope of the influence of just one minister's decision not to do anything without first asking himself, "What would Jesus do if He were in my position?" is nothing less than astounding. Yet, for the Christian, such influence should hardly seem out of reach, because it is God's power doing the working and the Holy Spirit doing the influencing. For the submitted and obedient Christian, anything is possible! 

I end with my favorite quote from this encouraging novel: 

"No man can tell until he is moved by the Divine Spirit what he may do, or how he may change the current of a lifetime of fixed habits of thought and speech and action."

Finding Freedom in Christlike Adornings

When I was young, my parents, as most parents do, gave us some guidelines for how they expected their children to dress. This was almost unnecessary while we were young, but as I grew old enough to begin choosing or buying clothing for myself, I found myself more and more dissatisfied with the boundaries my parents had laid down.

You see, at the church we were attending at the time, my parents were (or so it seemed to me) the only ones who had guidelines as strict as ours concerning clothes. The other children my age seemed to dress in the latest fashion, according to whatever was in style. They embraced wholeheartedly the trends my parents disallowed. --Trends which were, in hindsight, not only grossly immodest but also quite ridiculous.

But the concerns over modesty and propriety did not matter to me. All I wanted was to look like -to be like- everyone else.

It finally got to the point where every day brought a fresh argument about some article of clothing I wanted to wear, and with every argument my heart grew harder and more bitter towards my parents for the restrictions they were attempting to enforce.

But then, something changed.

It wasn't that the guidelines changed, or that my longing to fit in went away overnight. What changed was that I began to spend time around a dear lady whose dress characterized modesty and propriety and whose heart was so obviously content and secure in who she was in Christ that she didn't even think to care if her clothing was different from what others wore.

And that was the real issue. As I learned more and more about who I was before God, and about finding my identity in Christ, I began not only to understand the restrictions my parents placed upon me, but also to appreciate and embrace them. And as I embraced them, I grew to find great freedom in being guided, not by the changeable and insatiable demands of society, but by the principles of God's Word and the truths of who I am in Christ.

You see, I had spent so many years chasing after the prize of being like "everyone else", that I had missed what God was wanting to teach me through the very guidelines I had thought were holding me back. There is a great freedom in wholesomeness and femininity -a freedom that comes of resting in the approval of my Heavenly Father.

Now, instead of trying to conform to an ever-changing standard in search of approval I could never fully gain, I rest in the unconditional, abundant, and satisfying love of God, and seek instead to have my external appearance reflect the inward adorning of a meek and quiet heart. (Ephesians 3:3-4)

And that’s what it’s all about: the heart. But the external is a reflection of the internal. In that way, how I dress is just as important as how I act or speak or even think. I’m not perfect, but my goal is to dress in a way that reflects Christlikeness, not a heart craving the empty accolades or attention of the world. I don’t need any of the world’s praise or love or approval, because I am secure in Christ’s love for me, and a hungry world should look at me and instantly recognize a soul satisfied with the abundance of God.

The Power of Practice, and a New Goal

When I was little, I remember my sister taking an art class. I remember it, because she tried to sketch me for one of her assignments. I must have been around seven at the time, and as excited as we both were about the project at the beginning, I'm pretty sure she regretted her choice of such a wiggly and talkative model as soon as she began to draw.

Fast forward to a few years ago, when my sister and I took a trip to Idaho. She had begun this challenge of drawing something every day. It didn't have to be something big or important, just something. It was fun to watch her, and I learned a lot from her comments about her own drawings, as well as from the tips she gave me as I tried my hand at drawing in a little travel journal I had brought with me to record the trip.

Since then, she has continued to draw daily, but now she is a skilled and successful artist! Although my undiscriminating eye had already thought her art was very good when she first began the drawing challenge, even I can tell the difference between those early drawings and the drawings she produces now.

These are a few of my favorites:

     

 

(You can find these at her website by clicking here. --Ok, advertisement's over: carry on.) 

 The two of us are about as different as two sisters can be, and I won't pretend I always enjoy the subject matter she chooses to portray, but I have so enjoyed watching her success as she has improved her skill by daily practicing something she loved.

So when I found this notebook in a store a couple years ago, I not only admired it, I remembered my sister and her daily drawing challenge and bought the notebook for the sole purpose of writing regularly (although it was pretty intermittent at first) just for the delight of it. I had no intention of making anything of what I wrote, I just liked the idea of having a journal in which I could write without feeling it needed to be a big project, or anything official.

And now, here I am, blogging, writing, unable to go anywhere comfortably without pen and paper... and, --I am pleased to announce-- looking forward to publishing a children's picture book by the end of the year, Lord willing! (With illustrations by my sister, of course!) -More on that to come!

But I need to improve, and at the beginning of this new year at the start of a new decade, I dare to put into writing a goal I have wanted to accomplish, but have been to terrified to attempt: I am going to write something every day this year, whether it's a blog post, (January second... check!)  a journal entry, a note from my time in the Bible, a paragraph added to a lengthier project, or just a few short lines scrawled in my "emergency" notebook I keep in my car while stopped at a traffic light... it doesn't have to be perfect or even particularly important -just as long as it's words carefully pieced together and recorded, it counts as practice.

Now, the point to all this for you, dear reader, is that whether it's drawing, writing, music, or any other skill God has given you a love for, practice is a powerful thing. It is, in fact, the only way to improve that skill so you can then share it with others.

...and a Happy New Year!

It is the very first moments of a brand new year, and I wanted to share this passage from Ephesians 3 with you, for this, dear reader, is my prayer for you in this bright and shining start of a new decade:

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God"
Ephesians 3:16-19

That is the purpose of this blog: to point your eyes to the fullness of God which really can be yours as you seek Him and learn of Him.

Aren't you glad that God's goodness is not dependent upon our age, status, or stage of life? Wherever you're at, God is the same. He is not the author of emptiness, but of fullness; not of darkness, but of light; not of despair, but of hope. However turbulent the year may prove to be, God remains, and with Him the love and fullness which are always ours in Christ.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 
Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21