Dark Sayings

Jason is going through the gospel of Mark and it has so many treasures.  We started going through the parables two weeks ago.  One of the themes of the parables that has always interested me in a big way with little reward, is Jesus making sure that his stories confuse the audience.  The disciples, when they initially hear any parable, take it just as the rest of the crowd; they have no idea what Jesus is talking about!  But what the disciples have is Jesus to explain the meaning when the doors are closed and the crowds have dispersed.  Why? Why? Why?  That is the main question that tugs my heart and mind as I read the parables.  Jesus' intentions are the baffling thing.  The Word spoken, brings confusion and darkness.  It is not His intention to bring peace.  At least not yet.....

Mark is meant to be gone through again and again.  It is layered and with each going through, you gain tools that give you the ability to see what God is doing.  The ending makes the beginning make sense.  Wisdom is gained by coming again and again to the Words of God, loving and desiring those words, and applying them as you go.  This process never ends.  With each new acquisition, you find new ways to apply God's word.

The parables continue to unfold as you read the book of Acts and head into the epistles.  Peter, John, Paul, all see way more clearly post-pentecost.  History is like the book of Mark-there are layers and layers that expound and testify to the wisdom of the parables.

The big application for in the parables is to seek wisdom diligently, remember her always and let her be the guide as we walk.  Be the good soil.  Remember that when your story takes a turn into a dark alley, that God has new life on the other side.  Walk in faith, recalling Jesus' own journey, Israels journey, your journey.  Be emboldened to stay strong in times of persecution because your story is wrapped up in Jesus' story and will end the same as His.  His promise is sure.  No man or spirit can robe you of your inheritance.

Not yet.....we go from glory to glory.  Jesus came to save the whole world.  He will save the whole world.  He is saving the whole world.  The not yet of the parables, the darkness and confusing tone of the parables is being undone as far as the curse is found.

One of the amazing things to me in all of this, is how Jesus never set out to make everything super clear all at once.  He is the way to understanding not the instant download to wisdom.  To say it is all a process is super cliche but it is as close to the truth as you get when you look at how God works.  We go from glory to glory.  It is a process.  Wisdom is acquired.  Once you have found her, you never cease finding her.

The parables not only show us important principles, the point to the very character of God and His ways.  God unfolds the deeps to us.  He does this through time.  His infinite ways are disclosed to us in waves of goodness that span our earthly lives and continue on into the next life.

So as we make sure that we are the right type of soil and remember that all seeds must be crushed and buried in death to grow, we remember that parables in themselves, their shape and form, their confusing nature and depth, point to our good God who is wisdom.  He is never ending.  He is over all things.  His word can be searched again and again and there is always treasure to be found.  The parables are meant to be searched.  They are meant to turn us into the wisdom seekers that God has made us to be!  So get out the word and start the search, or continue searching.  And as you walk away from it, remember to keep it close and to bind it on your heart and mind!

Glory to Glory

I have been thinking about how my kids are going to grow and someday tell others their story.  When all is said and done they shall leave me, find some other house and be established in it.  My hope is that all four will establish their homes in righteousness and be devoted to serving the great God of heaven and earth until they each breathe their last, remembering daily to bear their cross (not despising the shame), seeking first the kingdom of heaven and in all things giving thanks!!!!!

I then have the oh so humbling thought that I am a big part of the stories they will share.  I shudder to think of the stories that they CAN tell! 

 I remember this quote by Chesterton, “The supreme adventure is being born. There we do walk suddenly into a splendid and startling trap... When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale.”

  I never thought about thinking about my life in this way.  It did many things for me (and the gift is still giving for I am applying it to the next generation!) and changed the way I viewed where I was put. I think of what this  means for my kids.   My kids did not choose me.  They did not choose the story that is so tied up in all that I do.  They did not choose to have a mom who struggles with her temper and is often plagued with some new sickness or other.  They did not choose a seriously ADD mom whose mind thinks faster than most fingers can type.   Nor did they choose a home where vast genres of music are blasted at a near 100 on the volume dial.  But  God…….

This where things always begin to get good!  They are here because of God.  The God who made heaven and earth, made the dry land and the seas, the sky and deep, the cow and the ladybug, the plants and the mountains, chose to put my kids in the Farley home.  When God made the world and all that he put in it, he declared it was good.  God also put your kids in your home because it was and is good.  They did not choose, but God did and he chooses better.

Lets do a quick little recap as we travel this logic trail.  God put your kids in your home and it is all good. 

But the verse I am so eager to discuss is from 2 Corinthians 2 3:18.  I love that we go from glory to glory.   Glory to glory, what can be more inspiring than this?

This passage, this thought, this truth of glory to glory is gospel truth.  It is not a nice after thought or something to be hoped for but instead is.  I am that I am made the world to go from glory to glory.  Satan, sin, you and all your horrible parenting mistakes (or failure to see your mistakes) cannot stop all things going from glory to glory.  God cannot be stopped by you or anyone or anything.  As Jason said a couple of sermons ago, your sin is not too big for God. 

Glory to glory. 

My story, Jason’s story, and likewise our childrens story are all wrapped in this glory.  No matter your past and the home you grew up in, God uses it all to transform you.  This growth is all upward, heavenward.  We are headed to heaven.  All this glory points to the glory that is Christ! 

So what do we do with this?   Well you live before God not despising the work that He is doing in you, through you and all around you.  God is working His Spirit into you and it is transforming you even more then Moses was transformed by meeting with God face to face.  In the passage we are looked at God reminds us that the glory of the old Covenant was glory indeed but it pales when you look at the glory now given in Christ through the Spirit.  Moses was such a man!  But the glory you have is greater.  There are degrees to glory.  Your glory is greater.  Not because you are greater then Moses but because the gift of the Spirit given on Pentacost was, is and ever shall be the means that God uses to write on our hearts.  Our hearts are being written on.  Not on tablets of stone like in the old covenant but on our hearts!!

What do we do with this?  Live before God not despising your story, your struggles, your kids, your husband and do not despise their struggles.  Thank God for it all.  See the glory that He is taking you to!  Look at all the glory that surrounds you now!  Have eyes of faith and remember that the biggest gift you give to your kids, to your neighbor, your spouse and church is living fully in the knowledge of all the Lord has done for you.  And……. this is not about you.  This glory is bigger then you.  But it is for you, to you and in such a big way that it spills onto your neighbors, your city, the surrounding nations and yes your posterity, starting with the little toddler that is in constant need of your attention! 

Remembering where you have come from (glory) and where you are headed (glory) keeps us focused on the one who is full of glory and to who all the glory is given.  Our lives give glory and the more glory we give, the more we reflect the One who died to save us and the world around us.  So here is to remembering the glory of the Old age while living in glory in this present time as mom and wife and looking forward to the glory that awaits us when we are welcomed home when this life is gone and the new embraced.

Major in the Minors

The last section of the Old Testament is full of prophets that rarely get attention.   If they do, it is maybe a shout out to a really cool verse that speaks glitter and sunshine into the heart.  But what if we looked at the minor prophets and ask, "What in the world are they talking about?"  It is common to grab a verse (like a quick bite to eat) and know nothing of context.  Minor prophets are books that go along with other parts of Israel's history, and that add depth and (even more) complexity to the story.  As I am reading them, I am finding it marvelous that they have common threads that run through all of them. Judgment on Israel for idolatry that has lead to injustice and bloodshed. God's love for His people that is never shaken. These themes run through and light up the history of Israel's demise with arrows pointing to the hope of Jesus for Israel. But God does not stop there. He even promises to redeem the whole world.

I am going to attempt an online bible study through the minor prophets.  I am doing this because I want to know the prophets better and what better way then to share what I learn with you.  Mi hermanas have been wanting a bible study for some time so lets give it a go and see what happens.

Justice is Lacking

 Have you seen this , O son of of man?  Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abomination which they commit here?  For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger."

God spoke to Ezekiel and showed him the sins of His people.   He brought Ezekiel to the temple and showed him the idol worship that was going on in His house.  His people had kicked Him out and set up idol worship in the temple of the Lord.  But just like our church today they also "invited" God to be apart of the service offering up their lame offering of incense.

 It says that they did violence in the land.  This is a theme in Isaiah and Jeremiah as well.  Justice is absent from the land so violence spreads.  Orphans, widows, foreigners, are taken advantage of and violence covers the land.

There is no justice where true worship to the God of heaven and earth is gone.  God calls us to worship Him in spirit and truth.  Justice is concerned with doing what is right when wrong has been done.  Only in a culture of rich worship can we get justice right.  God loves justice and is greatly concerned with it.

I have thought about how our homes our a mini pictures of the world.  We have the opportunity to teach our children justice by how we deal with "transgressions" in the home.  But we need to remember the fundamental truth that faithful church going and worship is essential to us in our daily lives.  We are judges and we are judged.  We will be judged with the measure we judge.  We go to church and ask God to make our hearts open and big to receive His word and grace in the service.  We have open ears that love His instruction and eager hands to practice what we have learned.  Your kids are sitting in the pew listening (or not listening) to the same sermon that you are.  If the word is preached and mom and dad ignore it, you are not a just person.  Justice begins with open ears and hearts to God's ways.  His ways are to become our ways.  We take off the old and put on the new and we learn this in the pew.  Open your hearts to God's ways and be as concerned with justice as He is.  People who ignore God are idolaters.  That is the plain truth found here in Ezekiel and where idol worship is rampant, justice is lacking.

Delighting In Us

Jason and I took a parenting class long ago when I was pregnant with Abby.  The fist session was the one I remember the most.  The material used in the class came from their own personal study of going through the Bible and highlighting the passages from Genesis on that talked about God as a Father.  This may seem like a no brainer but it struck me then and has stayed with me these ten years.

I recently read through the book of Isaiah and focused in God's role as Father to His rebellious children.  One thing that really struck me is how unlike God I am when I find my kids in rebellion.  It is so easy to feel burdened or even justified in being put out or let down when a child rebels.  It is hard to look on them and delight in them in times of disobedience.  But in the end of Isaiah I took out a pen and highlighted the words that God used to describe His rebellious ones.  I was very convicted and humbled to see how loving and tender God is to His children when they are  hard hearted and stupid.

Judgment did come. But God judged them with exile so that they would return to Him and learn to stay close to Him.  God delights in His people and they are precious in His sight.  He is just as well.  We often remember the justice of God and forget that it is not to be divorced from the grace of God. God delights in giving us grace.  Grace to Israel was Assyria.  Grace to Judah was Babylon. When reading Daniel we can see how loving God was and how exile did just what God wanted it to......repentance so that His children could be near to Him once more.  God delights to bring us near and we are precious to Him.  He is a tender Father.  He is not  pushover for Assyria and Babylon did come and take the Israelites captive.  But after captivity we see that His family became even larger and took in children from other nations as well as bringing Israel back to Him. Our parenting needs to copy that of our Father in Heaven and we should delight in our precious children when they sin and rebel, bringing them to restoration, knowing that this is what God does for us again and again.

The Sins of the Father Will.....

Generational living is how God made the world.  We are connected to our fathers and their fathers and so on.  There seems to be a whole lot of problems then when you come from a home that was dominated by sin and not repentance.  There really are two kinds of homes.  One home has sin as master and the other  has humility and repentance reigning.  Sin is present in both.  Good homes are full of repentance.  When God calls a saint from darkness into His marvelous light, He calls Him to a life of repentance.  If you grew up in a home where anger and shouting where the norm, it is probably something that you find yourself struggling with.  This can be super discouraging because you know that it is wrong but seem to find yourself in the mess before you even realize it.  It is easy to remember how hard it was to be raised in an environment of strife and anger and you feel so horrible that you would do the same thing to your kids.  But God does break generational sin.  He promises.  We want instant freedom.  We want instant sanctification.  Grace is woven into our hearts by humble repentance.  When you yell or have an outburst of some kind, are you asking for forgiveness?  I hope you answer yes.  This is God breaking the power of sin in your family.  Anger is easy to copy.  That is why Proverbs tells us to stay far away from an angry man.  But if you are repenting then you are breaking the power of sin and giving your children something else to imitate......repentance!  When sin comes in, get it out.  This is how God breaks the power of sin in our lives.  If you find that you need to repent often, be encouraged that God is getting out the sin and putting in the grace you need to continue to humble yourself and call out to Him.  God's grace is sufficient to break even the toughest sins and His faithfulness is longer lasting then the effects of our sin!

Glory to Glory

There are times when it seems like I am just stuck in the same place with the same old habits of yesterday, inching along in progress and struggling against a gust that is just too much.  Last year I was in a bible study with some awesome ladies and there was one session that really helped me understand sanctification.  I often get a little idea in my head of how it is all supposed to be going.  My little platonic ideal is a little Martha-ish and often frustrates me as I compare my world to that of what I expect.  Glory is a work of the Spirit.  It takes hold and shapes and molds.  Sinning is not the same thing as falling from glory.  Glory is forward facing and does not turn around when we sin.  It is grace that picks us back up again and uses our falll to change us more into Christ.