Category: Biblical Wisdom

A friend of mine and I were discussing the sad, but all too often true, fact that people in churches don’t always act very Christlike. She said that her pastor had recently given a sermon about how people with impure hearts can poison a church.

I gave our conversation a lot of thought. I asked myself, where would Satan like most to be? At first, the obvious answer may be at the local strip cub or on the street corner with the drug dealers. But, how much further damage can he do at those places? When we dig deeper, I think the answer is most likely among Christian people and specifically in the Church.

In the very first chapter of Mark, in the Bible, Jesus comes across a man with an evil spirit in the synagogue. Does evil know no shame? Nope. Think about it a minute. Who are the people who are most capable of defeating evil? Christians. When are Christians the most powerful? They are the most powerful, when they are gathered together as a group, praying as one, with one vision and one heart and mind.

Where is that most likely to happen? Church. So, where would the one who lives to cause division, who lives to lie, cheat and steal want to be more than anywhere else? Yep, it’s the Church.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s no tug-of-war or great dueling scene between Jesus and evil in the Bible. When evil sees Jesus, it flees. When Christians keep their eyes focused on God and not themselves, the Church is unstoppable. It becomes a vibrant force to be reckoned with. But, when we become focused on ourselves or our own visions or desires and forget to pray and forget to wait on God’s answers or bend to His will, chaos occurs.

Chaos is ugly and painful. Chaos, disorder and hurt feelings are not part of Jesus’ plans for the Church. The Church is supposed to be a sanctuary where believers can grow in love and serve together. The Church is supposed to be a place where wounded souls and seekers can find rest and answers.

I recently read an article about how there are people who have spent their entire lifetimes attending church, who are leaving. They are sick of the fighting and people acting anything, but Christlike. They aren’t giving up their faith; they are giving up the Church. They are called the Dones.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I get it. People can be a nightmare. People are broken. Broken people can say and do very hurtful things. Broken people can take their eyes off of God and can help cause chaos. But, we are all called to be a part of the Body of Christ with our unique gifts and talents. Most of the New Testament is dedicated to teaching that very concept.

We aren’t supposed to just decide that we’ve had enough. If we are breathing, Jesus wants us to participate with other Christians in some way, to spread the Good News. Sitting at home and reading the Bible, is not spreading the Good News. We can’t share wisdom with others sitting at home and we can’t learn from them either.

Perhaps what we really need to remember is that there is a force that would very much like for us just to stay mad and stay home. We’re much less effective there. But, Jesus has called us to love one another and to forgive, just like He did. Can not participating truly be an option?

I pray that all of the Dones will have a change of heart and return to the Church. We need each other. Non-believers need us. A dark world needs us to be united and to stand together. Isn’t that what we are called to do?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I had a cat named Lindsey when I was growing up. I found her and her sister in an ad in the paper. They were free. I was delighted. I had never had cats. When I took them for their shots, the vet informed me that they had ringworm on their ears. My mama was not pleased. Apparently, ringworm is very contagious. I was the only one who would touch those kittens those first few weeks we had them, while I treated them.

They healed nicely and I didn’t catch it, but I forged a nice bond with Lindsey. When the dogs would run her up a tree, I could call to her and she would jump to me. That’s fairly rare with cats. They aren’t very trusting souls, but she trusted me and I always delivered her.

I was reminded of Lindsey’s trust, when I recently  read the boat story in Mark, where Jesus was asleep and a squall came up. Waves were breaking over the boat and it was nearly swamped. The disciples were panicked and woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” “He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, ‘Quiet!’ ‘Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” Mark 4:39

I’ve always liked that story. It shows the complete power of Jesus, but the next verse makes me squirm a little. “He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40

Ouch! He saved them immediately, when they called on him, but he wasn’t very soothing at this point. They had seen him heal lepers, a paralyzed man, a man with a shriveled arm and countless others. They had seen him cast out demons and make people whole again. But, they still struggled with their faith.

Maybe they compartmentalized their faith. Maybe they had come to accept that Jesus could heal people, but they didn’t understand that the Son of God, could control nature as well. I think we may be guilty of that today too.

We pray about some things. We trust Jesus with some parts of our lives, but not all the parts. Maybe we happily pray for physical healing, but don’t trust Him to heal our hearts. Maybe we don’t believe that He can help us with forgiveness. Maybe we think that’s just too hard for Him. Maybe we don’t believe that He can heal emotional pain from our past. We just keep carrying it because we believe it’s just too hard for Him.

Nothing is impossible with God. We are told that more than once in the Bible, but God won’t wrestle our pain or anger or whatever burden we are carrying around, from us. We have to willingly give it to Him and trust. We have to stop being afraid and doubting that there’s anything out of God’s grasp to heal, or mend, or redeem.

Perhaps we need to be less like those men in the boat that evening and more like my cat. Maybe we should jump into the arms of Jesus and know that He will catch us, no matter what. That’s true faith.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Jesus healed many people in the Bible. I love the many different instances of His healing because they all show different sides of Him which help to lead to the heart of who He is.

In Mark 1:40-42, we find Jesus interacting with a man with leprosy. That in itself was not done. People were terrified of lepers and catching the dreaded disease and they had to live off by themselves with other lepers, separated from society and all of their family and friends.

The scripture tells us that, “A man with leprosy came and begged on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” I love Jesus’ response. “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.”

Let’s look at the man first. He was at rock bottom. He had nowhere to go. Leprosy was a death sentence. People rarely recovered, cut off from everyone and everything that mattered to him, he seeks Jesus on his knees. He boldly states his faith, if you are willing, you can make me clean. He doesn’t ask if he can or if it’s possible. He knows Jesus can make him clean.

Before Jesus acts or says anything aloud to the man, the scripture tells us he was filled with compassion. Dictionary.com defines compassion as: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate suffering.

Jesus felt sorrow for the man’s pain. He had a deep desire to heal and help. But, that’s the heart of who Jesus is, isn’t it? He would willingly go on to the cross to make us all clean.

Filled with compassion, He reached out and touched the man. Here’s another big taboo for the time. Healthy people never touched lepers. I’m sure that people with leprosy longed for human touch, for a hug from another person, but it wasn’t allowed due to fear. Jesus of course, had no fear as He reached out and touched him.

I can’t imagine the emotions running through the man’s mind, hope, fear, joy, excitement, as Jesus reached for him and said those words. “I am willing.” “Be clean!” The leprosy left him.

He could actually look down at his body and see that it was no longer ravaged by sores. He was healed. His faith had healed him and despite Jesus’ warning not to tell anyone, the man told everyone he met. How could he not?

An encounter like that with Jesus would have been impossible not to share. But, I think Jesus set a beautiful example here for all Christians.

First of all, we should all be filled with more compassion for the hurting world around us. It’s awfully easy to judge those people who we consider, unclean in some way, but Jesus didn’t judge. He had compassion. He was willing to help and we should be as well. How are we doing at reaching out to a hurting world full of people who feel that they are too unclean for Jesus, to unclean for grace?

We can’t heal them or make them clean, but we can point to the One who can. Isn’t that what we are called to do in whatever little way we can, in whatever little corner of the earth where we are? How are we doing with compassion?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A recent Pew Research poll found that 78.4% of Americans claim to be Christians. While that number isn’t great, it’s okay, I suppose. The greater question may be, “What exactly does being a Christian entail?” It seems that the most common answer I hear is, “It means believing Jesus is the Son of God.”

While that may be at the heart of what we believe, a quick read through the Gospel of Mark, demands a little more of our definition.

In the very first chapter, Jesus is in the synagogue, (church), “Just then a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- The Holy One of God!” Mark 1:23-25

A little further in Mark, the text says, “Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” Mark 3:11

It seems that the demons in the Gospel knew exactly who Jesus was and openly proclaimed it. So, as Christians does our faith require more than just believing? Is it enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for our sins? Is it enough to believe in the resurrection and ascension?

If we know that those statements are true, doesn’t Satan know it too?

I guess the deeper question I’m trying to get to is, “Is salvation enough for Christians?” It is true that we are saved by our faith not by our works. I’m certainly not suggesting otherwise. But, perhaps we should ask ourselves do we really know Jesus? I’m not talking about in the sense that we know our neighbors in passing and wave at them when we see them, but in the sense that we know our families and sit down regularly and break bread with them.

Is Jesus an acquaintance or a true friend? Do we meet with him in passing at Sunday service or do we intimately seek him everyday over our morning coffee? Have we attained all of our knowledge of him from sitting through sermons or have we really studied the Gospels to see and try to understand his actual words and actions?

I wonder if we can consider ourselves true followers if we refuse to get up off of our pews and actively follow? He called on his followers to be fishers of men. He called on his followers to pray and to forgive. He called on his followers to look to the eternal and not to the earthly.

If 78.4% of Americans were actually doing all that Jesus called us to do, what would our country look like? If 78.4% of Americans were actively reading the Bible daily, what would America look like?

These are some of the questions that the Gospel of Mark has brought to the forefront of my thoughts. We all fall short and that’s okay. We all need rest and that’s okay too. But, I have to wonder, if the 78.4% is doing the best we can to be true followers or more importantly, how can we improve?

The beautiful thing about grace, is that today is a brand new chance to try to get it right. Jesus is always ready. Are we?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

As I was recently reading through the Gospel of Mark, I came upon the story of Jesus healing Peter’s (still called Simon a the time), mother-in-law. It’s only a couple of verses without very many details, but the implications jumped out at me.

“Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.” Mark 1:30-31, NIV

Now I have to admit, as I read it the first time, I thought to myself, “My goodness! This woman has been sick in bed with a fever. A fever really wears you out. Can’t the poor woman take a little break, a little rest from taking care of everyone around her?” I mean, the minute she got well, she was up and waiting on them. I feel like these kind of women make me look bad.

But, at a second, more prayerful reading, subtracting my own cultural bias from the story, some other words took center stage. “He went to her, took her hand and helped her up.” That’s the headline here, so to speak. Jesus took the woman’s hand and helped her up.

Can you imagine, the Son of God, reaching for your hand and helping you up? She was immediately healed of her physical ailment, but I wonder what else changed within her at that moment? Did she know who Jesus was in that moment? Could she feel his enormous power and the inner healing that also came from his touch?

Mark’s Gospel doesn’t give us any further info, or does it? How did Jesus heal her? He took her hand and helped her get up out of the bed. She was cured. How did she respond?

She waited on them. The NLT version says she made them a meal. While the details differ in the translation, the point is the same. She served them. She went from being a victim to serving them. She sets a great example for our society that loves to dwell on being victims.

We will take legal action against our neighbors in matters ranging from simple fender benders to coffee being served too hot. Life is not fair and we believe the world owes us something to even the playing field. If we feel slighted in some way by a friend, or a neighbor, or our spouse, we will “vent,” to anyone who will listen. Even when the matter gets settled, we will often continue to dig it up and complain.

I imagine that Satan delights in that. If we can stay made or hurt, we continue to be victims. Like Peter’s mother-in-law, we just lie in our proverbial bed with a fever, wallowing in our negative emotions. We are completely ineffective for God when we do that. We are sidelined. Who wins then?

We all have the opportunity to be like Peter’s mother-in-law. We can reach for Jesus’ hand and get up. We can embrace forgiveness and healing and then we can go right to the next important step. We can serve. It doesn’t matter how we serve. What matters is that we move on and then God gets the glory. I think that looks like a better plan. What do you think?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Today is Friday. Most of us jubilantly celebrate Friday. Many of us start looking forward to Friday the minute our alarm clocks sound on Monday, signaling the beginning of our week. We also love Saturdays, often a day of absolutely no expectations on our time, depending of course, on the season of life we are in.

But, how many of us count the days til Sunday, til the Sabbath? Quite often, that’s a day where we wrestle ourselves and/or our kids, out of bed and drag ourselves to church, often turning into the parking lot on two wheels. It doesn’t take much to talk ourselves out of going to church either. It’s too cold. It’s raining. I don’t have anything to wear. I’m not feeling well. The kids don’t want to go. Does any of this sound familiar?

In Exodus, where we find the Ten Commandments, God said, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God…” Exodus 20:8-10 NLT

I began to give some thought to ordinary work. What is our ordinary work? Well, if we have a job, that’s ordinary work. I suppose cleaning house and cutting grass is ordinary work. What else would qualify as ordinary work? What about all of the anxieties, fears and stress we  carry around? Is that our ordinary work? Is it Holy?

As I contemplated the idea further, I came across some words that Jesus spoke about he Sabbath. He was once again, defending himself to the “know it all,” Pharisees. These guys always thought they had all the answers. You know the type, right? “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 NLT

He was specifically talking about all of the cumbersome requirements that Jewish tradition had come to require. But, I think his words are super relevant to today’s Christians as well.

God created the Sabbath for us. It’s a gift, not a burden of things we have to do, but a gift. It’s a gift of rest and while many of us get that part as we rush off to the golf course or lake or choose to sleep in, let’s not miss the second part, which is keeping it holy and dedicating it to God.

That too, is part of the gift. Here’s why, humanity tends to be self-focused. I know that’s a shocker, but it’s true. We spend our days chasing money to buy stuff that many of us don’t need. We spend our days worrying about the future, or about family members, or about our jobs, or about our diagnosis, or about….. You get the picture. We spend our days focusing on our insecurities and shortcomings. We spend our days carrying anger and grudges. We spend our days focusing on all that is wrong in our lives and the world at large.

The Sabbath is meant for rest from all of those things and emotions that weigh us down. We are to put those down for an entire day as we focus on our Creator and His love for us and His plan for us. His plan doesn’t include all of those burdens. His plan includes words like, “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 12:28

Do those words sound like they come from someone who wants to make our lives harder?

The Sabbath is meant for rest from ourselves. It’s meant for rest from being human as we focus on being Godly. That rest may lead to brand new insight and instruction. That rest may lead to a brand new peace. It could lead to fulfilling a dream that God planted within us long ago.

But, for any of those things to come to pass, we have to embrace the Sabbath, not as a burden, but as a gift.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂