Doing a New Thing

A few months ago, we had a few seniors at Master's Academy give their testimonies focusing on what God has done in their lives during their schooling time.  One of the students whom I won't name since I didn't get permission ahead of time, spoke of her struggles with moving to Vero Beach.  They were comfortable at the home they lived in previously, and she couldn't understand why God would uproot them from a good place to take them somewhere else.  There were other things she mentioned, but at the end she said that she came to understand that she had to allow God to do a new thing in her life.  I remember being struck with the wisdom of that statement.  How many of us have struggled when God has started a new thing in our lives? New is uncomfortable. It is strange and unpredictable.  New experiences require things like trust and faith.  We cannot rely on our experiences and knowledge when we go into new territory, and I believe it is this very thing that makes new things both highly avoided but also highly needed.

This struggle with the avoidance of change is a plague to the church too.  That might sound a bit harsh, but it really is true.  The church doesn't want a new thing.  It wants to do what it's always done, and this mindset is keeping us from getting involved in the new thing God is doing right now.  And we will miss it if we're not careful.  

Back when the church was getting its start, they had a similar decision to make.  It seems like a non-issue to us who aren't 1st century Jews, but the decision to allow Gentiles to become believers was a huge decision for them.  Part of their spiritual identity was the fact that the Jewish people were the chosen people--set apart.  They were to be so different from their pagan neighbors that they would stand out.  This separation had two results: it helped them see that God was different from the pagan gods, and, unfortunately, it caused them to miss God's vision for the pagan people.  Repeated throughout the OT is God's beautiful vision of the the Jews being a light to the pagan people so that they too may believe.  Those great statements were faded out in the light of the special position of being chosen.  They took great pride in this distinction, and in their ability to follow God's law (in contrast to the pagans).  

When Jesus came on the scene, He threw everything they thought they knew into a confusing mess.  He healed on the Sabbath; He dined with sinners; He helped Roman officials, He told stories where the bad guys were the heroes; He touched the unclean; and He basically told them everything they thought they knew about following God was wrong.  He was there to change things, and they did not like it one bit.  In Mark 2:18-22, some people questioned Jesus as to why His disciples did not fast like the other groups did (meaning John's disciples and the pharisees).  He explained that this wasn't the time for fasting, but then goes on to explain what was at the root of their question.  Why wasn't He (and his disciples) behaving the way everyone thought they should?  The answer was simple.  God was doing a new thing.

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts a new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  Mark 2:21-22

Bottom line is this, when God does something new, we just won't be able to fit it into our old way of thinking. We're going to have to change.  We're going to have to give up the way we think things should be done, and, using the Word of God as our guide, we are going to have to go into uncharted territories and live a life of adventure.  


The early church had to understand this, and we have to understand it now too both as a church and as believers.  (For more thoughts on how the church is changing, read Ed Stetzer's "The State of the Church in America: Hint: It's Not Dying")

Why I Don't Wear a Bikini (but don't care if you do!)

I must admit I feel a little weird writing this about this topic because of the delicate nature of the topic, but I've noticed the last few months that I've spoken about this topic several times with friends and even my students, and I wanted to go ahead and put my thoughts into writing.  Now, before I begin, let me say very clearly that I totally do not judge women who choose to wear a bikini.  It's definitely a gray area and not a hill I'd choose to die on, but there really are a few background issues that I do feel strongly about.

Throughout history, women have often been required to follow a forced modesty.  The standards for modesty were extremely strict and any infractions were enforced severely.  There was shame attached to the female body that never should have happened.  However, in the last forty years or so, there has been a dramatic shift in society's standard.  In reaction against the previously forced modesty, a new, unforeseen development has arisen.  Forced sexuality. 

What do I mean by this term?  I mean that now many women equate beauty with sexuality. I  mean that teens and pre-teens and, God help us, 7-9 year olds believe that the clothing that makes them attractive are short shorts, bikinis, and strapless dresses.  

In short, where women were judged harshly for showing too much (or any) skin in the past, now a woman may feel less than when she doesn't show skin.  And I think this idea (though definitely not encompassing all women) is affecting women and little girls.  It's the age old idea that the best thing we have to offer is our bodies, instead of our minds, our hearts, our spirits.  And that makes me mad.  Because that is still bondage.  Bondage with more choices than before, but bondage nevertheless.

I must admit that I never really thought so deeply about this until I had daughters--two wonderful, beautiful daughters who, like most females, care about how they look and how they are perceived (even at four and eight!).  And when I look at the clothes being sold for them and the clothes being worn by girls on TV, I get nervous.  What if they believe that's all there is to being a woman?  What if they become insecure like me?

I spent all of my teen years obsessing with my appearance.    When I became a Christian, I felt instantly free from that pressure.  I threw out all of my makeup and just wore baggy t-shirts and jeans.  Over time, I realized that beauty isn't something wrong.  God created it!  I realized that I was allowed to want to be attractive.  However, when I started thinking that way it brought up a huge amount of drama that I wasn't expecting.  And why the drama?  Because it was so hard to believe that I could be beautiful without exuding sexuality.  

So what does this all have to do with bikinis?  I don't wear bikinis for the same reasons I don't wear many other types of clothes.  One, I'm way too conscious of my body in a bikini.  Yes, I'm skinny, but I'm not perfect.  Every time I bend over, I'm thinking of how my belly looks when the muscles collapse (hey--I've had three kids).  I'm. Not. Comfortable.  

Two, I want my daughters to see that their mother thinks it's wise to cover her body.  When my daughters are teenagers, I don't want them to say "Well, you wear one!" when I say that the Brazilian-cut string bikini is not a good idea.  I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking ahead on this one.  

Three, I desperately want to learn that as I grow older and my muscles get flabbier and my skin gets wrinklier that I still have something valuable to offer the world.  That I can still look beautiful (because let's be honest ladies, being beautiful is still important) without looking like I'm twenty.  

So this brings me to my last point.  We have a choice.  If a woman wants to wear a bikini, that's totally fine with me.  But, at least for one moment, I hope we will stop and ask ourselves, "Why do I really want to wear this?" 


FYI:  Jessica Rey's "The Evolution of the Swim Suit" is one of my favorites for an interesting perspective on bathing suits!  Check it out!

David's Song of Praise

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."  Psalm 18:1-3

David penned this psalm "on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul."  This entire psalm is found in 2 Samuel 22:1-51, and the preceding chapters (and the context for the psalm) speaks of the death of Saul who had been trying to kill him for some time and (many years later) David's victory over the Philistine giants (the family of Goliath).  As you can imagine, these were pretty important events. 

As a quick recap, David was the youngest of seven sons.  He was a shepherd and musician who spent most of his days out in the wilderness protecting sheep.  That is until the Philistine Goliath showed up--a nine foot, well-trained soldier who laughed and taunted the Israelites and their God demanding that they send forth their own champion to challenge him.  The Israelites were paralyzed with fear.  David came on the scene and was shocked that the Israelite people would allow this uncircumcised man to mock their God.  David's mind was full of the remembrance of the deeds of God both in the past and in his own life.  He knew that God would show up once again for His name's sake.  The Israelites, however, looked at this situation and forgot all that happened before and were terrified.  We all know the rest of the story of how David forsook the conventional form of protection (namely armor and a sword) and instead approached Goliath with faith and some rocks.  In a matter of moments, the giant that had plagued them was conquered and beheaded.  This mighty feat brought David into the limelight and soon King Saul had David as a part of his royal retinue.  The hand of God upon David was obvious, and he was successful in all that he did; it wasn't long before Saul's admiration turned to envy.  For eight long years, Saul pursued David and tried to kill him while David hid out in the mountains with those who would follow him.  Many times, David had the opportunity to end the struggle and the hiding and the running.  But David refused.  Was he weak?  Was he foolish?  No.  He respected God and His anointing so much that he would not, could not, touch a man who had been anointed by God to be king.  Not even to save his own life.  In the end, it would be the Philistines who killed Saul, and David would mourn his loss.  2 Samuel 21 brings us forward many years.  Years in which David has made decisions that hurt many people--decisions that brought death to the innocent, that brought chaos to his family, that brought shame to his home.  He comes full circle in this chapter to face giants again--the family of Goliath--but this time he needs help; in four separate battles both David and his men fight and kill the remaining the men of Goliath's family.    

I find it interesting that David's psalm of praise includes the deliverance from the hand of Saul even though that had happened many years previous to the victory that he just experienced.  I think its telling that David was so good at keeping close the memory of all God's deliverances in his life and not just the ones that happened recently.  Perhaps it was this ability that enabled David to wait the eight long years of his exile with hope and not impatience.  He knew that he knew that he knew that God would move on his behalf because he'd seen it before.  He could wait because he knew he wasn't forgotten. Let's look again at the opening lines to his psalm:

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."  Psalm 18:1-3

When he thought of the Lord, the following words came to his mind: love, strength, rock, deliverer, trust, shield, salvation, stronghold, saved.  David responded to the victory he experienced by recognizing who was behind the victory.  He put his thoughts into words--words that would later even be used by future worshippers to use in their own times of thanksgiving.   

What words come to your mind when you think of God?  Are they words like David's or instead do you get words like duty, expectation, disappointment, restriction, even fear?  

I think a lot of our difficulties with God comes from a lack of understanding of His heart.  You see, David blew it big time, and on many occasions, and yet he never let this keep him from coming to God again and again.  And on those occasions when he was called out for his sin, his immediate response was humility and repentance.  I think it's because he really got God's heart for him.  He even saw God's heart for Saul which was why he refused to intervene.  When we understand God's loving mercy towards us, it is then, and only then, that we can offer that same mercy towards others.  

"Great deliverance He gives to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore."  Psalm 18:50

Let's summarize the main points here:
1) Our confidence in God is best reinforced when we continually remember God's work in the past in our lives, in the lives of other believers, and in the Bible.
2) We need to reaffirm our confidence in God with words.  Don't just think it--say it!
3) We are able to show mercy to others (in other words give people the time to be dealt with by God) when we realize how much mercy we are receiving.