Category: Building Christian Character

As Christians, people should be able to look at us and see Christ. People should be able to see who we serve in the way we act.

Yesterday,Today and Forever

Posted on by Wendy
We are saved by grace and grace alone.
We are saved by grace and grace alone.

I was subbing in a fifth grade class yesterday and I had a break because my students were at art. I took a deep breath because it had been a hectic day and I was basking in a little quiet time. It didn’t last long.

One of my favorite students who I had earlier that day, walked in with a smile on his face and said, “Hey Mrs. Gaines are you good at….?” The words froze in the air as I said a silent prayer pleading, “Please God, don’t let it be math.”

The words social studies, were the next words he spoke and I was flooded with relief. Snicker at me if you must; thinking that any simple-minded adult should be able to do fifth grade math, but you would be wrong. They have changed how math is done.

I have no idea who they are, but I’m here to tell you, a simple math problem which used to take all of four lines on a sheet of notebook paper, will now fill a page. I can get the right answer, but they aren’t looking for the right answer. They want to know how you got it and often times it involves drawing pictures. Can you imagine?

Now, social studies is history. History doesn’t change. I love history and I happily helped that young man with his social studies questions. Seems that the facts from the Great Depression are the same as they were when I was in school. Can I get an, “amen?”

The way school curriculum has changed drives me crazy, but as I was thinking about it, there are very few things in life that don’t change. Fashion and style change. Attitudes change. Laws change.

The church even changes. When I was a kid, we would have never worn pants to church. It was dresses and heels. But, now blue jeans are the norm. We wouldn’t have dreamed of eating or drinking in the sanctuary, but now people bring in giant tumblers of coffee.

People change sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. But, God doesn’t change.

The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.” Hebrews 13:8-9

In an ever-changing world, Jesus stays the same. The Bible still stands. Man may try to rewrite it to suit ourselves or to better explain it, like common core math attempts to. We can make it needlessly difficult, if we so choose.

But, in the end, we are saved by grace and grace alone, because God loves us.

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

And that, will never change. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Welcoming the Prodigals

Posted on by Wendy
Jesus calls us to welcome the prodigals with open arms.
Jesus calls us to welcome the prodigals with open arms.

Yesterday, our sermon was about the Prodigal Son found in Luke, Chapter 13. It’s a familiar story for most of us. I’ve heard many sermons on it. I’ve heard sermons focusing on the forgiving, loving father. I’ve heard sermons that focus on the righteous son, as well as sermons that focused on the wayward son.

I suppose the focus for the reader is most often, which of the characters he or she most closely relates to. But, yesterday, the pastor pointed out that many of us have had the opportunity to be all three of the characters, at some point in our lives. I know I have. I can relate to all three.

But, as I sat in church thinking about the father and his sons, I began to think of all of us who are regular church goers, those of us who strive to stay on the right path and stay close to the Father. How do we feel about those prodigals who come in after, as Jesus put it, “squandering their wealth on wild living?”

More importantly, how do we treat them when they come to church to worship or to seek?

How do we treat the pregnant teenager? We can say we don’t believe in abortion, but are we willing to help support the young mother and her baby? What about the prodigal who was raised in church, but chose to do drugs and is now fighting that addiction? What about the man that we know has been unfaithful to his wife and is now a single father? What about the kid who walks in off the street covered in piercings and tattoos?

What is our reaction to these people? While at this point in our lives, we may be the righteous son in the story, we are called to act like the Father, not like the son in the story.

We are called to be forgiving. We are called to celebrate every single soul who finds its way home, no matter how off the path we may feel they have been. We are called to act that way because Jesus says God acts that way.

Jesus felt so strongly about giving everyone the opportunity to be forgiven and go to Heaven, that He willingly died for every one of us, so that we could be redeemed, all of us, not just some of us.

I suppose Lent is the ideal time to ask ourselves how we feel about all of the prodigals out there who are searching for forgiveness and love. Jesus taught that we are to welcome them with open arms.

Sometimes we can forget, but Jesus is so good about gently reminding us. Perhaps you needed reminding today.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Never Stop Praying

Posted on by Wendy
Never stop praying because God is always listening.
Never stop praying because God is always listening.

I love that Jesus was such a great storyteller and to me, a great storyteller is not someone who uses long eloquent words that have me running for a thesaurus. He had a simple message for simple people. Humanity has a way of making the even simplest things in life complicated, and we can do a fabulous job of complicating our faith too.

I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer lately and the power it gives those who choose to use it daily. It draws us closer to God and over time, turns us into serious warriors.

One of my favorite parables that Jesus told, is the one found in Luke 18: 1-8. A widow kept going to a judge in town to plea for justice. For a long time he refused, but then eventually, he decided to grant her request because she was going to wear him out.

Jesus wanted his disciples to never stop praying. He wants us to never stop praying.

It can be hard sometimes when we have prayed for something in particular, for what seems like forever. We sometimes can begin to wonder if God is even listening.

Luke 18:1 tells us that, “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never give up.”

There are so many important things that Christians should pray about, but we sometimes get frustrated because we feel like God isn’t listening. They can be things ranging from marital issues, to sickness, to financial issues, to problems with friends and family. They can also be global issues like terrorism, violence, and national elections.

Jesus reminds us in this parable that God does hear our prayers and persistent prayer pays off.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is also reminding us that God is always listening, even when our circumstances seem dire.

There are many reasons to be unhappy about the twists and turns our lives take. There are many reasons to be fearful about the state of our world at the moment. But, if we remember that God is in control and to pray about everything that concerns us, we will be heard. We will be comforted. We will be answered.

The Bible tells us so.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Lead Us Not into Temptation

Posted on by Wendy
The Holy Spirit can help us resist anything.
The Holy Spirit can help us resist anything.

Have you ever noticed that when you try to intentionally start doing the “right’ thing or living in a better way, that bad things sometimes begin to happen? Sometimes when we make the effort to draw closer to God, it seems that the world around us is against it.

Ever wondered why that would be?

As I read through chapter four in the Gospel of Luke the other day, it struck me that Satan didn’t even take notice of Jesus until He was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Of course, before that, He was just a carpenter, doing carpentry. He hadn’t yet begun His mission that God had sent Him to do.

It occurred to me that this is also the case with us today. When we are living our lives and doing our thing, apart from God, Satan doesn’t have much of a desire to interfere. Even if we are Christians, but aren’t really making an effort to learn what we are called to do and then do it, we aren’t really a threat.

Sure, we are one less soul for him, but we aren’t really affecting the landscape of Heaven, if we are just attending church intermittently and doing little else.

No, it’s when we really start to draw closer to God and bring others along, that he takes interest in us. That’s where the temptations start, just anything to draw us away from our true purpose.

Often it’s things that are benign like skipping worship service to go to the lake or skipping Bible study because we are too tired. It can also take on the form of that one person who drives us so crazy, that we elect not to get involved with some sort of ministry that we know we are called to.

Satan is more than happy to help us come up with all types of excuses to keep us home, because if we aren’t worshiping God with other believers, we aren’t growing and learning. We aren’t becoming a part of a community to help each other stay accountable.

It’s really important for us to remember that we have an enemy. It’s the same enemy that Jesus had. Jesus resisted His wilderness temptation with the help of the Holy Spirit. Christians today have the same access to the Holy Spirit.

It’s kind of humbling and inspiring at the same time. We will be tempted, but we will have help if we ask. The Holy Spirit always knows exactly how to help.

The Bible says to, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

That’s strong protection, but should we really expect anything less? God looks after His own. It’s up to us to stay close to Him and He will provide.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

But, Then There’s Jesus

Posted on by Wendy
Seeing the world through the window of grace changes everything.
Seeing the world through the window of grace changes everything.

Last weekend, I popped into my daughter’s room and caught her sitting on her floor and looking out her window. She commented on how beautiful the sky was. I had to agree. The sky was a stunning color of blue that day. She also commented on how much she enjoys looking out her window and how there were spiders that had made disgusting webs that were obscuring her view.

She was right. There were some yucky spiders, and eggs, and her window was dirty. I went and fetched my hubby and explained her predicament. We have double windows that are very difficult to get to and clean, but we got the vacuum cleaner and he removed the spiders and cleaned her windows.

The difference was amazing. It was like her window was 3D, all of a sudden. All we did was remove the webs and clean them. Unfortunately for my sweet hubby, that made me want to clean our bedroom windows too. They actually had mold growing on them and at two floors up, were also very difficult to clean.

But, we cleaned them too and again, I was amazed at the difference, as the light came streaming through. How had I allowed them to get so dirty to start off with?

I thought a lot about those windows over these next couple of days. I thought about how the way we see the world around us can sometimes be covered by webs and a dirty haze of our life experiences.

If we have been hurt in relationships in the past, we may be tempted to avoid relationships, whatever kind they may be, because that lasting haze has made us see them all as harmful. If we have been hurt by a church in the past, we may write off all churches as judgemental, or hurtful.

We can sometimes allow different disappointments that may have happened to us over the years, to slowly build up and negatively affect how we see community in general, or maybe even how we see the world as a whole. We may not even be aware of it.

We get used to viewing the world through that dirty haze of pain, guilt, anger, and disillusionment.

But, then there’s Jesus. Those four words have the capability to wipe everything clean and make the world sparkle. Sometimes it’s all of a sudden, like our window cleaning last weekend. We reach for Jesus and the entire world appears to be in Technicolor.

Sometimes, it takes a little more time. Sometimes we need to spend some time, leaning into Him while truly learning to embrace forgiveness, peace and joy, while He strips off the haze and tears down the webs, a little bit at the time.

Either way, when we choose to walk closely with Jesus and to look at the world through the window of grace, the beauty is breathtaking. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Called to Serve

Posted on by Wendy
Galatians 6:9
Galatians 6:9

My church is doing a Bible study on the Gospel of Luke. Last night, we covered chapter four. There’s a lot of events that occur in that chapter. The account of Jesus being tempted by Satan, as well as Jesus preaching in his hometown synagogue and being run out of town, are all big stories. Jesus casts out demons in this chapter and heals many. The last verses tell us that He went away for some quiet time.

I could write a post on every one of those worthy of our thought, topics, but last night, there were two simple verses that really caught my attention. It’s an account of an everyday woman, just like me. She was so ordinary, the writer doesn’t even bother to name her.

She is known simply as Simon’s mother-in-law. In verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine, we learn that she has been in bed with a high fever and they asked Jesus to help her. We don’t know who “they” are either, but Jesus answers their request and He leans over her and rebukes the fever. “She got up at once and began to wait on them.” Luke 4:39b

It’s just a simple story, really, of a simple woman, serving Jesus. Yet, it speaks volumes.

I love all of the simple stories of unnamed people tucked throughout the scripture, who are doing God’s work.

There were people who loved her enough to ask Jesus for His help. Isn’t that what we are doing when we pray for the people that we care about? Aren’t we asking Jesus to intervene in some way, whether it’s to heal physical sickness, spiritual sickness, emotional sickness, or financial or relationship issues?

How did Jesus react to the requests of those who cared about her?

He healed her.

How does she react?

Is she thankful, while she takes a long deserved rest? Does she take a vacation? Does she feel entitled somehow because she has been through so much and overcome so much? Does she question God for letting her get sick in the first place?

Nope.

She gets up and serves them, immediately. She serves Jesus.

What do we do when our prayers for healing or deliverance are finally answered? Are we super thankful as we get right back to living our lives or are we convicted in some way to serve the God who has saved us?

It can be really difficult sometimes, to get back to serving when we feel we have been smacked down somehow, yet that’s exactly what Christians are called to do. As long as we are breathing, there is work to be done. Simon’s mother-in-law serves as a beautiful reminder for me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have a awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

He’s in the Rain Too

Posted on by Wendy
He walks with us in the sun and rain.
He walks with us in the sun and in the rain.

Yesterday, I was able to get outside and take a walk. It was supposed to rain, but it was fairly warm, and I decided to take a chance. I pray when I walk and I feel closest to God when I’m outside. It’s hard not to be in awe of God’s creativity when I hear birds singing and see them flying around or when I see the trees beginning to bud and bloom. The lawns in my neighborhood are turning green again and there are deer everywhere.

As is usually my custom, I pray on my way to my destination and on the way back, I remain silent. I try very hard not to ask for anything or even give thanks for anything. I try to just silently drink in Creation and wait for God to show His presence somehow. He often sends me a hawk. He sent me an owl once, in broad daylight. Sometimes, I’ll catch sight of a tiny flower in the middle of a bunch of dead leaves.

His presence is often subtle, but I usually see Him or hear Him.

Yesterday, as usual, when I began my walk back, I prayed for Him to show me His presence. I walked a little ways and I heard a hawk call in the distance. I saw some blue birds and cardinals, all evidence of His creation, but I sensed that wasn’t what He was trying to show me.

I kept walking. It began to rain. Then, I got it. I could almost hear Him whisper, “I’m in the rain too.”

I smiled.because I understood.

Now, the thing about rain is that it can be refreshing. It can be life saving when there’s been drought. It can be devastating when there’s flooding. But, God is always there, in all of it.

Yesterday, I was reminded that it’s often easy to see God in the blessings. But, it’s just as important to seek Him and see Him in the hard times too. He’s there in the losses, the sicknesses, and the tragedies. He’s right there; drawing us close, if we will just lean into Him.

I found that reminder comforting. Perhaps you will too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Divine Faith Building

Posted on by Wendy
Never underestimate the power of praying for your child.
Never underestimate the power of praying for your child.

My daughter and I have been talking a lot about her college plans. She has one more year of high school. Should she dual enroll at a local college? Should she take all rigorous classes? Should she participate in work based learning? Should she create a schedule that allows herself some breathing room, in order to actually enjoy her last year of high school?

I have made these her decisions to make, not mine, and needless to say, the entire ordeal has her incredibly stressed. As we were talking about it over the weekend, she shared that she had a gut feeling about a decision she should make. I asked her if she had prayed about it and she admitted she hadn’t.

I told her that I felt like God gives us all an inner voice that helps to lead us in the direction that He wants us to go, but that we have to spend time in quiet prayer to hear that voice. I also warned her that Christians are never called to make decisions based on fear. The Bible tells us repeatedly to fear not.

On Sunday, we had to combine my daughter’s Sunday school class with ours. She is in the older class and was not thrilled, but she reluctantly attended. The lesson was from Mark 5, where Jesus cast out many demons from a man and cast them in to 2,000 pigs.

After we went over the study questions about the Scripture, we moved on to some life application questions. One of the questions was, “We’ve seen how demons controlled the man in this story. What other things-besides demons-can take control of a person’s life?” The answer was to accept all reasonable answers and then listed drugs, alcohol, sports, relationships, fear, depression, anxiety, trying to be popular, the Internet, shopping, etc.

After they all shared, I read the answers printed. My daughter looked at me and told me she felt like I was “re-tweeting her.”

For those of you not familiar with Twitter, that’s just teen age slang for calling her out. I assured her I wasn’t making it up and even showed her the text. Her eyes got a little wide.

My hubby, sitting at the other end of the table, quietly commented, “Looks like there was a reason for you to be in here today.”

Boom! There the Holy Spirit was at work. It’s always so fabulously amazing to watch God step in when it comes to my kids’ faith. I pray and then I often worry needlessly. It’s sometimes hard to remember that He loves my children more than I do and when it comes to growing their faith, He’s always working a step ahead of me.

Last Sunday, I was reminded and I sometimes need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Danger of Venting

Posted on by Wendy
Ephesians 4:29
Ephesians 4:29

In the movie, “The War Room,” the character, Elizabeth, goes to visit Miss Clara, about learning to fight for her marriage. She begins by gushing about all of the bad things he has done to her. Miss Clara cuts her off and tells her that, that kind of talk isn’t helpful for saving her marriage, but that prayer is.

I have thought about those words for the past week. Thanks to Sigmund Freud and the idea of catharsis, we have come to believe that the best way of dealing with every little thing that irritates us in any sort of way, is to vent about it, or quite simply, complain to anyone who is willing to listen about everything from bad service at the McDonald’s drive thru, to more serious family and marital issues.

Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly situations where talking it out, helps. I also believe that there are wonderful therapists out there who can help us get to the core of problems we may be having.

But, as is the usual course of humanity, we have taken something that is appropriate in certain situations, and made it a daily lifestyle choice and social media has aided in our constant desire to vent about the wrongdoings that the world heaps on us.

If someone cuts us off in traffic, we tweet about it. If we are irritated by something our spouse has done, we post it on Facebook. Anything that causes the smallest annoyance, makes our social feed.

But, does sharing our problems in cyberspace, help us in any way, or is it possible that typing it out makes something small into something bigger? And what about the people reading our negative thoughts and posts? Do our words stir up more negative emotions for them?

I think venting about our spouses can be particularly destructive to our marriages. When we put them down and constantly talk negatively about them to others, we begin to regularly think more negatively about them. How can that be helpful in preserving a marriage?

And what about the people we are venting to? Does it make them look for cracks in their own marriages or family lives?

The Bible says, “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” Proverbs 13:3

Could that also mean the things we constantly talk negatively about, like our jobs or relationships, could be damaged somehow by our words? Don’t negative words and thoughts often lead to action?

I think the key is prayer. When someone cuts us off in traffic, we can always say a prayer for our own peace and safety. When someone says something to hurt our feelings, we can pray for patience and understanding and we can also pray for that person. God can take care of it, without us venting to five friends or taking it to Twitter. And when things get tough with our marriages, prayer can give us patience and understanding and God can give us grace.

It’s not about not being able to be angry; it just turns out that God wants us to share our pain and disappointment with Him. He’s truly the only one that can give us peace.

Miss Clara reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Your Verse Here

Posted on by Wendy
If you were asked what your favorite Bible verse is, what would you say?
If you were asked what your favorite Bible verse is, what would you say?

Back in August, Donald Trump, who was defending his Christianity, stated in front of reporters, that the Bible was his favorite book. The follow-up question was, “What is your favorite Bible verse?”

Trump deflected the question and said that it was personal and he wouldn’t share that information. Of course, a firestorm was created about whether or not Trump was truly a Christian or whether he truly knew his Bible.

Politics aside, the entire fiasco really got me to thinking. If I were standing in front of a group of reporters and I were asked my favorite Bible verse, would I have an answer? Would you?

While it’s true, that God sees our heart; the world sees our actions. Like it or not, at the moment, Christians are kind of walking around with invisible targets on our heads, that the unbelievers love to take aim at. We often give them ammunition.

We know we are supposed to read the Bible. We know it’s God’s Word. Yet, we so often don’t read it or know what it says.

Trump later followed up by saying that he liked Proverbs 24. Since it’s one of the Books of Wisdom, Proverbs is always a wise choice for leaders.

Yesterday, I pondered the question, if you had to be buried in a t-shirt with a few words that summed up your life, what would they be?

One of my readers commented, that her son’s youth group leader challenged  them to pick out a verse that they would wear on a t-shirt, and then they all got shirts with the verse. I absolutely love that idea.

Knowing scripture is part of the Armor of God. We are supposed to use it to keep ourselves spiritually safe.

So, here’s my challenge for you. What’s your favorite Bible verse? If you know, I’d love for you to share it in the comments. If you don’t, I encourage you to spend some time and find one. There are so many amazing ones to choose from.

Mine is, “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

I can’t wait to hear yours.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂