If you are seeking God and His approval, you will walk in such a way that you need not fear offending those around you. You will walk in the fruits of the Spirit – love, kindness, self-control – that make us more ‘likeable’ in general. But you will not be bound to people-pleasing because you will have pleased the One whose opinion truly matters.
Years ago it was Pastor Bob Coy of Fort Lauderdale’s Calvary Chapel; more recently Willow Creek, John Crist. Each time what I feel is not surprise, not shock, but a deep disappointment – not because I expected the failure – but because I’ve seen this same event every few months for years. More than anything, I’m saddened.
And I’m also scared.
Early in our marriage Josh traveled often for work and it was tempting to use the time we had together selfishly, at the expense of our mutual walk with the Lord. So in our dating and engaged season, and now our married life of six years, we have implemented some methods to keep us in the Word in the midst of busy times.
I am on board with striving for holiness. I will dedicate to holiness, read about it, pray about it… but to take the title Holy? To stand before a perfect God and claim worthiness like this? Not me.
What is a vision in terms of life as a woman? The Dictionary defines it as the “the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be”. Synonyms are perception and discernment. But being a visionary does not mean becoming a professional worrywart. To understand what it means to have vision and thus, how to keep it, we must see how it directly impacts our lives.
I flipped open my notebook and read over scribbled notes dated April 24th. Matthew 5:38-42 38 “The law of Moses says, ‘If a man gouges out another’s eye, he must pay with his own eye. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the one who did it.’ 39 But I...
She might not remember it, but a lot of times she laughed when she replied ‘yes, they’re all mine’ (though she probably wished she could send a few of us back). She didn’t say it was easy and she didn’t say it was hard; she didn’t condemn their one-childness and she didn’t complain about us. She laughed.
Laborare est orare; orare est laborare. My Latin days come flooding into my memory: three years of verb tenses and vocabulary. Latin has a way of describing thoughts that make them instantly more profound. But in those years of high school translation, I never came...
There are so many seasons of waiting. When I was single, much of the waiting conversation revolved around finding a spouse. But after being married for six years, I’ve seen clearly that waiting is required of us in every single stage of life. Waiting is difficult because it requires trust. We can’t see the end game; we don’t know the outcome. We’re standing still (or so it feels like) until the next step if revealed to us.
I’ve been quite open about my own marriage on this blog. Josh and I come from two different spiritual backgrounds that made my road to understanding Scripture much easier than it was for him. I also have a four-year religion degree, when he spent his own college years studying engineering. I’m a reader; he’s learning to be. All of this stacks up to mean two very different ways of seeking God through the Word.