Month: February 2018

The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  Mark 1:12

Wilderness is defined as a “wasteland, desolate tract, or no man’s land”.  When I picture a wilderness, I equate it with a desert.  It is dry, hot, sandy, and lonely.

The Bible says that the Spirit sent Jesus out into the wilderness right after his baptism for 40 days where he fasted, was tempted by Satan, lived among wild beasts, and was ministered to by angels.  It is thought that He endured these things so He could identify with each of us.

There are physical wildernesses, emotional wildernesses, and spiritual wildernesses that we can encounter in this life.  These wildernesses can be ones brought on by sickness, grief, emotional instability, unworthiness, bad choices, anger, bitterness, and so many other things.  It is at these times, when we realize that we can’t always make it on our own – we need help to find our way out of the wilderness.

If we can be open to the presence and guidance of Jesus, He can lead us through the wilderness to find grace and peace offered through His forgiveness.

I am a visual, hands on learner, and I saw a perfect example of forgiveness and grace lately.  People were invited to write the areas of their life that exemplified a wilderness in sand with a nail or their finger.  When it was written, they were asked to look at it, pray about it, then with their hand, erase it.  As quickly as that word disappeared, is the same way Jesus forgives and grants you grace.  The sin is gone.  In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

When I got home, I got a bag of sand, a tray, and made my own wilderness eraser.  Each day of the remaining days of Lent, I will write an area or wilderness of my life which needs attention, pray about it, and erase it.  With this act, I will remember that Jesus forgives and cleanses just that quickly.  In the name of Jesus Christ, I am forgiven!  So are we all!

“And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.”                     Luke 24:40

All through my childhood and the childhood of my children, we seemed to frequently have a problem with dirty hands.  The kids would come in from playing in the yard, school, or some other activity, and we’d always say, “Go and wash your hands.”  Many times, they would return, swear they’d done this, and hold out their hands with their palms down.  At this point, we would always say, “Show me your hands, but turn them over.”  When the palms are turned up, the dirty hands are visible.

There are different ways to look at dirty hands.  We can look at them as people might have looked at the lepers in Jesus’s day as unclean; we can view them as a symbol of neglect or laziness; we can look at them as unacceptable; or we can look at them as those hands which are committed to service to God.

My PaPa worked all of his life as a lineman for Georgia Power Company.  When his work days were through, he would come home and work as a heating and air conditioning specialist at night and weekends.  No matter how hard he scrubbed them, he could never get all the grease, oil, and dirt completely gone from his hands.  He always worked hard, did things for others, and loved serving his God.  His dirty hands were  a symbol of how he lived in service.  I loved those hands.

In Jesus’ time, purity was the law of the Pharisees.  I am pretty sure that with all the traveling on dusty roads, the work of a carpenter,  the healing of the unclean, the teaching and holding of children, the washing of the disciples’ feet, the raising of the dead, the turning of water into wine, and all the other personal contact associated with His ministry,  Jesus violated the purity laws.  He was never afraid to get those hands dirty in service to others.

All of us will be asked to show our hands one day.  I pray they will be dirty from our service to others.

I thank God for the life of Robert McMichael and his hands which were always lifted in song, praise and service to his Lord.

Let my hands perform His bidding,                                                                                          Let my feet run in His ways,                                                                                                        Let my eyes see Jesus only,                                                                                                          Let my lips speak forth His praise.                    All For Jesus by Mary James

“Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20

In my high school French class, our teacher would sit on her desk, speak a phrase in French and say, “Respondez  s’il vous plait”.  The class was then expected to respond collectively to that question in French.  Imagine, if you can, a group of South Georgians responding collectively in French!  It was quite a memory.  I learned just enough to get by.

My mother always taught us that when you receive an invitation which asks for an RSVP, you respond to it with a “yes” or “no” answer.  It was/is considered very rude not to respond -it’s the polite thing to do.

In this world of evites, the RSVP is now “yes”, “no”, or “maybe”.  The commitment has ‘wiggle room’ so that you don’t have to give a definitive answer.  Times have indeed changed, but a hostess/hosts still deserves a RSVP.

God has asked each of us to RSVP to His promise to dwell in Him and He in us.  All we need to do is commit.  When we do, we find that Christ will meet us wherever we are and shower us with His love and grace.

In the everyday experiences of life, there are many chances to encounter God, but unless we are open and have RSVP’d to His tug on our life, we will miss them.  Author William Barry says, “Whether we are aware of it or not at every moment of our existence we’re encountering God who is trying to catch our attention to draw us into a reciprocal conscious relationship.”

Wherever we are in life, Christ is ready to meet us, accept us, forgive us, and set us free.  All He needs is for His invitation to be acknowledged.  During this Lenten season, we  need to consider a “yes” RSVP to all He freely gives!  Our host has a place reserved at His table for each of us.

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  Proverbs 27:1

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

In the movie, Gone With the Wind, Scarlet O’Hara declares that she will “think about that tomorrow.”  I hear that phrase a lot around my house along with the ever popular, “I’ll do it later”, which could mean an hour, a day, a week, or never.  I am guilty of saying it, too, and even though I have good intentions, in my heart I know it is a mistake to assume that later or tomorrow is promised.

There are many times when I know that God is asking me to do something, but I file these requests in the “to do” file in my mind.  The trouble with filing things away is that most times other things take precedence in the file, and I never get around to doing those Godly requests.

The time in between doing what God asks you to do and when you actually do it, is the Devil’s time.  This is the time when “he” convinces you that there is no hurry to send that card, make that phone call, take that friend to lunch, prepare a meal for a sick friend, give that hug, do that Bible study, or visit that family member.  I have learned that the opportunity to “just do it” can be taken away in an instant.  You can be talking to a person one day, and they can be gone the next.  You can’t “do it later”.

These “do it later” moments are the ones I most regret in my life.  There were many opportunities for ministry that I missed by letting myself postpone something I knew I should do.

We vacationed in Sedona this fall, and there were three mule deer that were always lined up facing the road as we drove past to our hotel room.  Every time we passed, them, I always said, “I’ll get a picture of those cute things later.”  On our way to the airport, I finally got around to preparing to take the picture as we left.  This picture is what I got!  I got what I deserved for assuming I could “do it later.”