If Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, Does the Beauty Lesson Based on Location?

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, does the beauty lesson based on its location? That’s the question that surfaced when I saw two pictures yesterday.

The first was a tiny, sleeping newborn with one arm across his chest & his other arm up towards his face with his little fist nestled beneath his chin. The 2nd was another baby in the EXACT same position in his mama’s belly. The same emotions surfaced as I looked at the two pictures & wondered this: why is one little life considered disposable simply based on location inside the womb?

Did you know that when a sperm and egg intersect, the VERY moment they meet a spark of light occurs? I find it fascinating that the Lord created the beginning of our world by separating light and darkness AND that He makes sparks fly at the moment of conception! Jesus IS light and His life, death, & resurrection is like a beacon of light that begets life!

Proverbs 14:25 tells us that a truthful witness SAVES LIVES but a false witness is a traitor.

That word for traitor means false, deceit or fraud. How can any person confessing to be a Christian give fraudulent witness that abortion is ok?

If we SAY we love Jesus, and Jesus IS the Word, and His Word is the Bedrock Source of all unchanging Truth, where does the Word of God support this?

January 2023 will mark 50 years since Roe v. Wade. As of January 2018, over 62 million babies have been ripped from the womb and I have contributed to that number…oh how I wish that I knew then what I know now. I wish that somebody had pulled me aside and spoken the Truth of the matter…that this little guy inside my belly had a soul the moment sparks flew…that my choice doesn’t negate his…

Oh Father, forgive your people for allowing the sacrifice of millions of children for the idols of comfort & convenience! Forgive us for the times we’ve been a false witness and even for being a NONE witness, refusing to speak on behalf of the unborn! 

Your Word says if we confess our sins & turn from our wicked ways, that You are faithful to forgive. We confess that our nation has forsaken these tiny lives. Oh, hear from heaven, forgive our sins & restore our land as we turn our repentant hearts to You.

#OneYearBible #Abortion

May 5th One Year Bible Readings

JUDGES 21:1-25

RUTH 1:1-22

JOHN 4:4-42

PSALM 105:1-15

PROVERBS 14:25

Feeling Righteous Indignation? Be Careful Not to Become a Self-appointed Providence of God.

Today I read about the atrocity at Gibeah. To be honest, I didn’t want to keep reading because it was so awful.

A man & his concubine were traveling home, but the sun was setting so they hurried forward to a fellow Israelite town. The safety they sought, however, was not provided as the wicked men of the town sought to rape the man. They ended up settling for his concubine, whom they raped unto death.

I said it was awful, but it gets worse. The man cuts up his dead concubine into 12 pieces & sends them to the 12 tribes of Israel as a way to summon them to action.

His plan works. 400,000 men gather & decide to go to battle against their Benjamite brothers. And that is where the problems begins…they decide without consulting the Lord.

By all observable facts, it seems like the right thing to do because the Benjamites refuse to give up the wicked men.

The Israelites DO ask the Lord which tribe should lead in battle. He says Judah, but they lose over 22,000 Israelites. The next day they ask the Lord IF they should fight & He says yes, but again they lose another 18,000 men. Finally, the Israelites weep before the Lord, fasting until evening when they bring Him burnt & peace offerings.

This time they ask the Lord, “Should we fight against our relatives again OR should we stop?”

Finally the Lord replies with a victorious promise, telling them to fight.

The cause was ripe with righteous indignation. What the tribe of Benjamin allowed was beyond-words bad, & yet the Lord allowed Israel to repeatedly fail, suffering shame & sorrow.

Why?

They didn’t ask God IF they should go to battle, but rather HOW. They acted as the providence of God without the order of God.

The Israelites went to war without first fasting, cleansing their own hearts & seeking God’s will & way. Warring with righteous indignation is only winsome when our hearts are clean & the Lord is our lead. The repeated failures remind the men of their need of Him.

Father, there are many opportunities for righteous indignation today. May we act or speak only at Your command. Cleanse our hearts & guard us from becoming a self-appointed, fallible providence of God. Your will & way is the only winsome way!

#OneYearBible

May 4th One Year Bible Readings

JUDGES 19:1-20:48

JOHN 3:22-4:3

PSALM 104:24-35

PROVERBS 14:22-24

When Was the Last Time You Asked the Holy Spirit to Lead Your Spirit?

Anytime I hear the word “striving”, my insides feel like the  backwards scratch of a record. It’s jarring, leaves me feeling unsettled & I haven’t really been able to identify why until this morning.

Jesus sheds light on striving in John 3:6 when He tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. (Talk about striving, Nicodemus is a pharisaical leader who was all about striving towards perfection through rules 😬). When asked for clarity, Jesus declares that flesh gives birth to flesh & Spirit gives birth to spirit.

The word for flesh means of human origin or empowerment. It indicates an unchanged part of us that has not been transformed by God.

Initiative, diligence & perseverance might seem respectable on the surface but here’s the thing about unaided human effort:

Decisions & actions that originate from self or empowered by self will only last as long as our self-sourced resolve.

For years I struggled with perfectionism. I liked order (& still do!), but the perfect things I created were surface in nature & only lasted as long as I could sustain them (messy humans wouldn’t get in the way😳)

The work we do is only good & of eternal value when the will of God is the wind behind them & the glory of God is their end!

Jesus likens the Holy Spirit to wind. He’s invisible & beyond discovery, known only to us by His effects. The Hebrew counterpart for the word means the very breath of God!

If your life feels mundane, lacking purpose & passion, I ask you this:

When was the last time you invited the Holy Spirit to lead your spirit?

We cannot pull up the bootstraps to a life of purpose! It’s not possible! We MUST invite the Holy Spirit to lead our spirit, forcing our mind, will, emotions & body to follow!

When we let His power rule & reign, we’re transformed, success is reframed & a NEW nature bound by NEW principles with NEW aims arise!

Living a life of purpose, on purpose, with purpose cannot & will not come from striving. It’s only made possible by the power & reign of the Holy Spirit!

Holy Spirit, align our spirit with Yours so You may lead!  Give us ears to hear your whispers so we may live a transformed life of God-sourced powerful purpose!

#OneYearBible

May 3rd One Year Bible Readings

JUDGES 17:1-18:31

JOHN 3:1-21

PSALM 104:1-23

PROVERBS 14:20-21