November 24
Scripture focus: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1I continue to struggle with the idea that if I want to be healed, transformed and conformed I have certain responsibilities, but the actual outcome does not rest solely in my own work-worn hands.
The Lord builds the house…
How about you? Is it hard for you to believe that it is God who makes us both willing and able?
Recommended reading: Jeremiah 17 - 21November 23
Scripture focus: Generous to a fault, you lavish your favor on all creatures. Psalm 145:16
While we’re on the subject of God’s character, scripture also tells us that he is generous to a fault and loves to lavish favor on all creatures. When I was little, I had the mistaken impression that God was on the verge of bankruptcy – and my offering was essential to saving his kingdom.
Seriously, God encourages us to give and do so generously and cheerfully.
But it is not intended as a bribe to a mafia-esque god!
God enjoys our giving because he delights when we live out our true, God-created identity. In the area of all things generous, God goes first. He invites us to join him in the fun of living a life of lavish loving.
This aspect of God’s character will be a tough concept to accept if we believe that resources are scarce, and we better grab what we can get while we can.
Imagine with me for a moment, a world where people so trusted God with their every need that they never held back in their generosity toward others. What if we became so aware of God on the outside that we couldn’t wait to embrace the work he was doing?
Could we feed the hungry?
Could we house the homeless?
Could we provide healthcare for those who couldn't afford it themselves?
I don’t know – but we sure could try!
When our insides get put right – and we realize that God cares for us and meets our every need, we will find ways to serve God on the outside – not because we have to, or should, or ought, or fear his wrath if we don’t – but because we’ll see our true, God-created selves and want to express generosity and favor to all creatures, like our daddy does.
Recommended reading: Jeremiah 12 - 16November 22
Scripture focus: Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. God always does what he says, and is gracious in everything he does. Psalm 145:13
When my children were young, they loved Halloween. Their Nana made them cool costumes like Indiana Jones and Star Wars characters. We weren’t too keen on witches and such, we tried to enjoy the festivities without celebrating the macabre.
One of our church friends disagreed with our decision to celebrate Halloween with our children – which was of course her right. She was pretty vocal about how as good Christians we were sadly missing the mark by allowing our children to go and collect candy at our neighbors’ homes while dressed in costume. I appreciated her caring enough to try to set me straight on something she was convinced I was doing wrong. I’m still not sure that we made the right choice, but we made our decision prayerfully, thoughtfully and after seeking much counsel.
I don’t think this particular friend ever quite got over our making this decision. She seemed to think that we were pretty lousy lovers of God from that point forward.
Pete and I ultimately concluded that followers of God had a lot of different and sometimes conflicting views on how to raise children in this world while teaching them to love God with all their hearts in this world and the next. Rather than committing ourselves to the passionate pursuit of the “right” answer, we have chosen over the years to try to take the next right step, realizing that God is gracious and even our best intentions don’t always result in doing the “right” thing.
God is clear and does what he says – graciously.
As we seek healing, transforming and the ability to conform to the will of God – I pray that we’ll be as gentle with ourselves and others as God is with all of us. Only God knows it all – the rest of us are simply trusting him with ourselves.
Recommended reading: Jeremiah 7 - 11November 21
Scripture focus: God is…”compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” Psalm 103:8
God is….
How do you experience God in your daily life?
Assess the damage. Consciously observe how you live in your relationship with God.
May the God of all compassion, grace, and abounding love lead you today!
Recommended reading: Jeremiah 1 - 6
November 20
Scripture focus: You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. Matthew 5:8 The MessageImpossible expectations god – expects a lot out of us, more than we can bear (excerpted from Soul Repair)
Finding our way back to God doesn’t mean that the second we reach our destination all our old hurts and baggage get taken away by a celestial bellhop – at least that didn’t happen for me. So it should come as no surprise to us that those of us who struggle with codependency might find ourselves becoming spiritually codependent.
Soul Repair talks extensively and beautifully about spiritual codependency. I hope you read the book! My own struggles with codependent spirituality led me to spend years living in a faith community and working as if somehow God is under-functioning and can hardly get onto his throne of grace each morning without my help! Doesn’t that sound crazy? Well, that’s because it was crazy!
I suspect that many of us live as if God expects a lot out of us, more than we can bear. We call this thing commitment or calling. Many people applaud the herculean efforts of those who work hard within the faith community.
God’s word on the subject calls this kind of thinking into question – making me wonder if this workaholic approach to faith might be an indicator that our inside world is topsy turvy.
In the book of John, we are told that the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent – without a peep about working our fingers to the bone in order to please a god of impossible expectations.
Jesus is reported to have invited all those who are weary and heavy-laden to come to him to find rest. In the world of codependent spirituality – rest is a four letter word. But there it is in print – Jesus uses a four letter word – rest.
I pray that we all find a little rest in a world that encourages us to rush.
Recommended reading: 2 Peter 1 - 3November 19
Passive god – cannot help us in our time of need, uncaring, impotent, unreliable, of no practical help...(paraphrased from Soul Repair)
I am yet to discover the passage of scripture that reads, “God helps those who help themselves.” I have discovered these passages while I was searching God’s word:
I could go on and on and on. But you might want to take a good concordance and reference words like “trouble” and “help” – discover for yourself all the ways God has demonstrated his active care and concern for his people since the dawn of time.
Spiritual renewal will require us to let go of some of these false gods that are not God.
November 18
Scripture focus: You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. Matthew 5:8 The MessageEmotionally distant god – does not care about our emotional needs, we make excuses for him and feel as if he is too busy for us, he is uncomfortable around emotional expression…(excerpted from Soul Repair)
I realized once God provided me this beautiful gift of an in-town daughter that it had never occurred to me to tell God how sad I was that she lived in a different state. I accepted her wandering ways as part of who she is – an adventuresome spirit destined for the big city lights.
As an adult child who has never had the privilege of living in town with my own mother, I accepted long distance loving as part of modern day living. I had never told God how sad I was that my mom wasn’t available for drop-in visits or afternoon tea.
When our kid came back home, I realized that part of me had falsely concluded that my own emotional longings for both my mom and my daughter were not valid longings. I didn’t believe that it was right for me to feel this way, much less burden God with the loneliness I felt when I thought of two such important women in my life both of whom lived out of easy reach.
My daughter’s homecoming re-ordered my inside world. I believe that God’s hand is all over this move. God is not an emotionally distant god, asking me to suck it up and keep my emotional needs to myself.
Have you ever experienced a reluctance to share your emotional needs with God?
If I, a mere mortal mother, am never too busy to listen to the heart cry of my own children, why would I think my heavenly Father would ever be too busy to listen to me?
May we pour our hearts out to God today.
Recommended reading: Malachi 1 - 4
